


To Find You Again

by ghosted_forever



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), F/M, Julie and the Himbos, Julie and the phantoms - Freeform, M/M, Reggie Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 54,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26834026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosted_forever/pseuds/ghosted_forever
Summary: Tragedy hits when in 1994 Juniper Fray dies in an accident. While Reggie and her family mourn her death, June is resurrected by Rose, a 21-year-old trying to find her way in life. The two quickly become friends and hang out for a couple day until another tragedy occurs. Sunset Curve die from food poisoning. Now it's up to June's ghost to find her boyfriend and best friends in the afterlife while also helping Rose's daughter find the music in her heart again. To achieve that, she goes to seek help from an all-knowing and all-powerful ghost, Caleb Covington. Does he actually help her? Or does he just use her and her friends for his own benefit and is June left to her own devices to save them?[A/N]: I do not own any of the characters in this story except for Juniper Fray and her family and friends (that aren't JATP characters) or any of the songs used throughout the story. Some scenes are taken literally from the show, so I do not own any credits to those scenes either, that's all Kenny Ortega and his team (thank heavens for Kenny Ortega for giving us this masterpiece).
Relationships: Alex & Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 77





	1. Prologue

# 1994, Malibu

“FIVE-SIX-SEVEN-EIGHT!”  
The music is blaring, the beat thumping, feet stomping and arms flailing. That can only mean one thing; The Malibu Beach Dancers are rehearsing again. It’s become almost a daily thing for the crew to take on the Dancestar studios, especially for Juniper Fray.  
Juniper is sixteen and has been a part of this dance crew since she was only six years old. She’s been dancing around the house since she could walk, and so her parents thought it was only fitting to bring her to dance class. At first, it was weekly classes, but as soon as she got better and it became a passion of hers, she’s started competing and thus having more dance classes each week.  
“Alright, nice job, guys!” Carolynn, the twenty-something brunette at the front of the class, says, applauding her pupils. “We’ll come back to this tomorrow. Keep practicing!” All dancers part to get to their bags at the side of the room.  
“Ooh, June has a visitor again!” Heather teases. Heather is, along with Juniper and Maya, one of the best dancers in the crew. They always get the solos, and always get a spot on the front row.  
Juniper looks up as she’s gotten her bag, taking her water bottle out, and finds a nervous-looking dark-haired boy watching the class through the window. That would be Reggie Peters, June’s boyfriend as of 2 years ago.  
“You think his parents were fighting again?” Maya, June’s best friend, asks. Maya and June have been best friends since they were six, both of them starting at Dancestar Studios at the same time. They’ve been inseparable ever since.  
“I hope not, but to be realistic, probably,” says June after taking a big gulp of water. Carolynn’s dance classes are always incredible tough. June would just like to douse her bottle of water over her, drenching her entire body to get rid of the sticky, sweaty feeling.  
“See you tomorrow,” Heather and a couple of other girls say as they pass Maya and June while filing out. June simply gives them a wave and a smile, then focuses on her boyfriend as he walks in now.  
“I’ll call you tonight,” June tells Maya, and after her best friend has said her goodbyes, she leaves the dance studio to give the couple some alone time. “Hey, baby.” Reggie gives her a kiss on the cheek.  
“I really like the dance you guys are working on. It’s got spirit, and you looked very fly.” He manages a smile, but June knows why he’s really here. She offers him a sweet smile before grabbing his hand.  
“Want to get out of here?” she asks, to which he simply nods.  
June says goodbye to Carolynn and then takes her boyfriend out of the studios and onto the boardwalk. For a while, it’s completely silent. Only the crashing of the waves onto the shore counting as background noise. The silence feels like a comfortable blanket, especially for Reggie.  
“You want to talk about it?” June carefully queries and raises their intertwined hands to press a kiss to the back of his hand.  
“It’s just the same as always,” Reggie shrugs and sighs deeply. June knows what’s about to come. “Mom was shouting at dad that he always came home so late and that she’s been working her ass off trying to get food on the table for their three kids and get the laundry done. Then dad comes in with his bullshit about him being the one earning all the money and if he didn’t work as hard as he does, there wouldn’t be any food to put on the table or clothes to wash.” June rests her head on his shoulder and rubs her thumb in circles on his hand, in attempt to comfort him a little. “Guess Nate and Archie were lucky they weren’t home yet.” Nathaniel is Reggie’s older brother, Archie’s the younger brother, making Reggie the middle child. “I just—” he takes another deep breath. “I just wonder where it all went wrong, at what point they stopped loving each other, you know?”  
“I’m sorry you have to go through that, baby.” June kisses his hand again.  
“Thank heavens I still got you.” He smiles down at her, being about a feet taller. The love and admiration the boy has for June beams off his face and courses through June’s body as a warm, gushing feeling.  
“I love you, Reginald,” she has the widest smile on her face as she says that.  
“I love you too, Juniper.” He leans down and meets her in the middle for a sweet, love-filled kiss. When the two pull away from each other and continue their walk down the boardwalk, they lapse back into a comfortable silence until June gets an idea.  
“How about we go sing our faces off at Iggy’s?” she suggests, wiggling her eyebrows tellingly. Reggie’s face immediately lights up in delight before he starts running, dragging his girlfriend along with him. The chilly night air fills up with June’s and Reggie’s laughter until they arrive at the karaoke place they always go to. It’s the only way to cheer Reggie up after his parents fought again, or when June’s had a bad day.  
“Hey, Iggy!” The two love birds greet the forty-something-year-old at the front office with wide smiles.  
“Ah! My favorite clients!” he exclaims, his smile immediately mirroring theirs. He sits up and checks something in his files before looking up at them again. “Booth 2 is available for you guys.” He walks out from behind the counter and leads the two towards the second booth, opening the door for them. “One hour, don’t forget!” The two kids nod vigorously and disappear into the dimly lit booth.  
“What songs are we singing today?” June asks while Reggie tries to get the karaoke machine to work.  
“How about we start with this one?” he asks mysteriously, pressing a button and handing a microphone to his girl while taking one for himself. The small screen in front of them shows “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life – Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes”. June’s eyes widen at this as does her smile.  
The beautiful, romantic melody chimes through the booth, causing June to sway along a little. She’s a dancer, when there’s music, she’s dancing. Even if it’s just slightly swaying or bopping her head along. Reggie’s voice then captures her attention. His voice is lower than how he normally sings, as if imitating Bill Medley’s voice, which makes her giggle a little.  
“ _Now I've had the time of my life  
No, I never felt like this before  
Yes I swear it's the truth  
And I owe it all to you_”  
June brings the mic to her lips and sings Jennifer Warnes’ line.  
“ _'Cause I've had the time of my life  
And I owe it all to you_”  
The music picks up a little, and both of the teenagers start dancing along a little. Reggie then turns to June, grabbing her hand as he sings the next line.  
“ _I've been waiting for so long  
Now I've finally found someone to stand by me_”  
He twirls her around while she continues.  
“ _We saw the writing on the wall  
And we felt this magical fantasy_”  
He pulls her closer by her waist and her hand goes straight to his chest as if on automatic. Their voices now blend together perfectly as they sing simultaneously.  
“ _Now with passion in our eyes  
There's no way we could disguise it secretly  
So we take each other’s hand  
'Cause we seem to understand the urgency_”  
June steps away from Reggie, leaving him a little confused.  
“ _Just remember_ ”  
She walks around him on the beat, and he doesn’t take his eyes off her.  
“ _You're the one thing”  
“I can't get enough of”  
“So I'll tell you something”  
“This could be love_”  
His free hand snakes around her lower back whilst she places hers on the back of his neck, pressing their foreheads together as they sing the chorus together.  
“ _Because I've had the time of my life  
No, I never felt this way before_”  
He grabs her hand again, withdrawing from her, creating some distance again.  
“ _Yes I swear it's the truth  
And I owe it all to you_”  
He carefully tugs at her arm, and she twirls back into him.  
“ _Hey baby_ ”  
They exchange smiles whilst staring into each other’s eyes and cuddling in the middle of the booth. That doesn’t stop June from singing the song though.  
“ _With my body and soul  
I want you more than you'll ever know_”  
She twirls back out, letting go of his hand, and walking around him again with a simple step-touch.  
“ _So we'll just let it go  
Don't be afraid to lose control, no_”  
A few feet apart, they turn towards each other. Reggie stares at her with admiration, jamming out to the lines June’s singing.  
“ _Yes, I know what's on your mind when you say  
"Stay with me tonight"_”  
“ _Stay with me,  
And remember  
You're the one thing_”  
June now curls her finger in a luring motion, beckoning him to make his way back to her, which he does.  
“ _I can't get enough of_ ”  
“ _So I'll tell you something_ ”  
He grabs her hand again and pulls her towards him, June pulling her leg up to his waist.  
“ _This could be love_ ”  
He leans back, bringing her with him into a smooth dip.  
“ _Because I've had the time of my life_ ”  
He brings her back up and, while still holding her hand, sways with her for the rest of the chorus.  
“ _No, I never felt this way before  
Yes I swear it's the truth  
And I owe it all to you  
'Cause I've had the time of my life  
And I've searched through every open door  
Till I found the truth  
And I owe it all to you_”  
During the musical intermezzo, the two of them just jam out together, freestyling their way through it until the bridge came along. Reggie’s nervousness about his parents’ fighting long forgotten.  
He grabs her hand again when the music slows down, pressing her close to his body, their foreheads touching.  
“ _Now I've had the time of my life  
No, I never felt this way before_”  
“ _Never felt this way_ ”  
“ _Yes I swear it's the truth  
And I owe it all to you_”  
He twirls her out again, June doing a triple pirouette before singing the last chorus with her boyfriend.  
“ _I've had the time of my life  
No, I never felt this way before  
Yes I swear it's the truth  
And I owe it all to you  
'Cause I've had the time of my life  
And I've searched through every open door  
Till I found the truth  
And I owe it all to you_”  
June rubs her nose against his before kissing him passionately. Every minute spend at Iggy’s is a minute not lived in the real world. This right here, is their place, their dreamland. It’s the perfect place to forget about everything that has happened during the day, forget about all the struggles and everything that makes you sad. It’s June-and-Reggie’s place.  
“You feel better?” June asks worriedly, searching his eyes for the real answer.  
“Yeah, tons,” Reggie replies with a genuine smile and pecks her lips again, “Thank you, Junebug.”  
“You and me against the world, Reggie-poo.” He giggles at the nickname and kisses her nose.  
“You and me against the world, forever.”  
For the rest of the hour, they sing a couple more songs varying from Madonna to Nirvana and Bon Jovi and have a full make-out session between every single one of the songs until their time in the booth is up. They thank Iggy for giving them another half-priced session and bid him goodbye.  
They make their way down the boardwalk again, the crisp, chilly October air sending shivers down June’s spine. Without saying a word, Reggie takes his leather jacket off and hangs it over her shoulders. A thankful smile spreads across June’s lips as she pulls it closer.  
“Do you want me to come in for a while?” June asks when they arrive at Reggie’s house. She noticed him tensing up when they neared the house of doom. He gives her a nervous, pleading look, which tells her enough. He opens the door and lets June in first, closing the door behind him.  
“Juuuuuuuune!” a soft, almost squeaky voice sounds as a flash of red and blue runs into the hallway. Archie, Reggie’s 9-year-old brother runs up to June, wrapping his little arms around her waist.  
“Hey, Arch!” June greets, letting a giggle escape at the cute antics of the boy. Having been a part of this damaged family for two years has had its perks; mainly having Archie and being friends with Nate, aside from the obvious. “How was school today?” The little boy lets go and grabs June’s hand to guide her into the house, lapsing into an explanation about his entire day, complete with sound effects and enthusiastic arm movements.  
Reggie’s dad is in the living room, watching the news on the tv while his mother is in the kitchen, doing the dishes. They must’ve just finished having dinner and though the tension still hangs over the room like a thick mist, the fighting has died down by now.  
“And Tommy and I built a fort in his basement today!” Archie finishes up his story as Nate appears from the hallway Reggie and June just walked in from. He ruffles his little brother’s hair with a chuckle.  
“Did you tell June about your expedition yet?” he asks, offering June a welcoming smile. This makes Archie get into an entirely new story about dinosaurs and the fossils he found with Tommy today.  
“Hey, June,” Reggie’s mom greets as she walks into the kitchen, probably curious about all the noise.  
“Hi, Alice,” June smiles back.  
“Have you eaten yet? You must be starved after your dance class!” June looks up at Reggie to ask for his opinion on her staying a little while longer. “I still have plenty of lasagna from earlier. You still need to eat, Reginald?”  
“Uhm, yeah, mom. We’d like to have some,” Reggie replies in June’s place. The girl looks down at the little brother, who had died down with his story-telling when his mother walked in. He’s playing with his toy dinosaur, holding his tongue.  
“Arch, I would’ve thought you’d eaten all the lasagna by now,” she teases, making his smile grow wide again. “You know… All the lasagna in the world would fit in your tummy, wouldn’t it?” She raises her hands, wiggling her fingers to warn him she’s coming down to tickle him. This even makes him screech out in laughter before June’s even an inch away from him.  
“Archibald, can you keep it down?! I’m watching tv,” their dad, James, bellows, upping the volume on the tv. June’s eyes widen as Archie flinches and continues playing with his toy. “Oh, hey June.” He’s only noticed her now. June can tell her boyfriend’s getting agitated by his father, especially the way he treats his girlfriend every time she comes around. To save her from his dad, he grabs her hand and leads her into the kitchen where his mother is heating up their food.  
“How’s dance class going, June?” she asks as the two of them sit down at the table.  
“Good! I think we’re almost ready for the competition next week!” June replies excitedly. Her excitement and passion for dance always warms Reggie’s heart. Even in a cold environment like his home.  
“Oh, yeah! That’s next Saturday, right?” June nods, “Reginald, you did get us all tickets, right?”  
“Yes, I did, mom.” The Petersfamily has been to almost every single one of June’s competitions since 1992, cheering her on from the sidelines and supporting their son’s girlfriend. She’d really become a part of the dysfunctional family.  
“Good! I wouldn’t want to miss it.” Alice places a hand on June’s shoulder in a supportive gesture as she passes her to get to the lasagna again. She grabs the tray with a kitchen towel and places the dish on the table where she’d already placed two plates and cutlery. “Eat up before it gets cold!”  
Alice stays with the two while they eat, and they talk about everything they can think of. The subjects varying from school to dance to Reggie’s band and everything beyond it. June can tell the tension is shifting to a more comfortable atmosphere. Though she knows that when she leaves, it’ll just go back to the way it used to be. It makes her genuinely sad her boyfriend has to live this life in a loveless family. That only means she has to give him all the love she can give. She has to show him what it’s like to love and be loved. And thus far, she’s done a splendid job.  
“I’m going to head home now,” June says after dinner, getting up from the chair along with Alice and Reggie. “Thank you for the lasagna, Alice. It was delicious!” She embraces Reggie’s mother before the boyfriend takes her through the house. She says goodbye to Archie and Nate, and even tries to say goodbye to James, but he’s too occupied with whatever’s on the tv.  
“Will you come back soon, Junie?” Archie asks her with pleading eyes whilst hugging her.  
“Yes, of course, Arch! You know I can’t go a day without seeing you?” The little boy smiles and lets go of his favorite girl. She then hugs Nate quickly before Reggie whisks her away into the hallway.  
“Oh! I almost forgot your jacket!” She says and starts taking it off, but Reggie stops her.  
“Keep it on, baby girl. I don’t want you to freeze to death.” He wraps it around her a little tighter. With a thankful smile, June reaches up and kisses him softly, but quickly. “Will you call me when you get home?” She nods her head in response, and then he leans down to kiss her once more. This time, though, it’s a little longer, a little more passionate. Almost as though this could be their last kiss and there’s no tomorrow.  
“I love you, Reggie-Poo,” she whispers and pecks his lips one more time before turning around and walking out the door.  
“I love you more, Junebug.” She turns her head to blow him a kiss and then starts her walk down the boardwalk to get home. Just a ten-minute-walk. She’ll be fine. Reggie, however, keeps his eyes on her until she’s turned the corner before walking back inside. There’s a darkness that now looms over him as he walks back into the house that hasn’t made him happy for a very long time.  
“I’m going upstairs to do some homework, mom,” he tells his mother before heading up the stairs quickly. He grabs his algebra textbook and tries to figure out how to do those equations they’ve been learning about the past week. Though math used to be his best subject in school, the second they threw in those letters, he was screwed. To him it just looked like Chinese. But a person is capable of learning Chinese, and once he’s figured all of it out, it’s almost as easy as 2+2. 

About an hour later, he still hasn’t heard the telephone ringing. June still hasn’t arrived home or she forgot to call. Worry rising within him, Reggie makes his way downstairs where he finds his parents and his brothers near the telephone. All of them crying. Confused and suspicious, Reggie walks up to them.  
“What’s going on?” he asks cautiously, bracing himself for the news that’s about to hit him. Something in the back of his mind is telling him something isn’t right.  
“That was Michael on the telephone…” James starts, walking up to Reggie in precaution. The mention of June’s father doesn’t comfort him at all. An immense darkness drops onto Reggie’s shoulders as he hears his father pronounce the words, “June’s been in an accident. She got hit by a car. The doctor’s tried to save her, but it was too late…” A feeling of nausea, sadness, and heartbreak rushes through Reggie. His knees give out. He drops onto the floor while tears roll down his cheeks and sobs take over his entire body. When he feels a pair of arms around him, he flinches at first, but then lets his father hold him. It’s been years since James hugged either of his sons, only ever laying a hand on him when he was angry. But now that he finds his son breaking down in front of him over the girl that brought him so much love and happiness, the girl that brought so much love and happiness everywhere she went, he can’t not hug his son and comfort him. It’s his parental instinct.  
Alice, Archie and Nate wrap their arms around their father and brother, huddling up to find comfort with each other. All the color and all the light has been drained from the Peters family for years, only June bringing in a splash of hers inside every time she came around. And now even that’s gone too.  
None of this makes any sense to Reggie. He was supposed to marry this girl. He was supposed to spend the rest of his life with her. You and me against the world, forever. Why would anyone ever take that away from him? Why him? Was he really just that unlucky in life?  
How is he supposed to go on without June? Without his Junebug? Without the love of his life?


	2. Rose and June

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1995, Los Feliz. Rose Hernandez receives an anonymous package in the mail with a VHS tape. When she plays the tape, she figures out it's of a beautiful dancer who then suddenly appears in her bedroom. In real life. Rose has resurrected the ghost of Juniper Fray. The two try to figure out what's happened and become fast friends. With June by her side for only her to see, Rose goes out partying and to work at the Orpheum where Sunset Curve is doing a soundcheck. June is perplexed. She knows those guys! But then... tragedy hides within a few tainted hotdogs...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we don't know Rose's birthname, I've chosen one myself. This is in no way canon, but just for the sake of this story! :)  
> I don't own the credits to "Now or Never" nor to parts of the scene at the Orpheum.

# 1995, Los Feliz

Rose Hernandez comes home from a day of back-to-back job interviews. Ever since dropping out of college to make it big in the music industry with her band Rose and the Petal Pushers, but then having the band break up, she’s been on the look for a job that’ll give her a somewhat stable income.  
The band breaking up also meant moving back in with her parents, much to her dismay. Though her mom and dad have been good sports in helping her find a job. But Rose is an ambitious, independent woman of 21 years of age, she doesn’t want to be the girl running back to her parents and depending on them again as though she’s sixteen again.  
“Hey, mija,” her father greets her when she walks into the kitchen with the mail in her hand. Her parents have been so busy with the upstart of their new company, they sometimes forget their daily chores. “How were your interviews today?” Rose sits down on a chair at the dining table, throwing letters and bills for her parents onto the table as she sorts through it.  
“Okay, I think. The Orpheum said they would call tonight if I’m hired,” she mumbles, “There’s a chance I’ll get it though, they were pretty enthusiastic to see my resume, and—” she freezes upon seeing the big brown, kind of heavy, envelope with her name on.  
“What is it, mija?” her dad asks, wondering why his daughter stopped mid-sentence.  
“Uhm, nothing,” she lies and plops the rest of the mail on the table, not even bothering to check it further. “I got to go make a call.” She scurries off with the envelope under her arm and opens it once she’s in her room. There’s a VHS tape inside, ‘Play Me’ scribbled on the label. She puts the tape into her VHS player she has in her room and turns on the tv, pressing play on the video. Curiosity rises within her. There’s a girl on the screen. Gorgeous, young. Dressed in a flashy, deep blue dress with fringes and glitter. I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston chimes through the room. The girl in deep blue dances to the beat, shaking her hips, shimmying, throwing her legs up in the air. Rose is enthralled by this girl on the screen. She’s so confident. So happy. It almost radiates entirely through the screen. All of a sudden, the music is overpowered by a loud, high-pitched scream. Rose’s hands go up to her ears to protect them from the sound as she squeezes her eyes shut until the screaming’s stopped.  
“Wh-wha?” Rose’s eyes land up a confused girl. It’s the girl from the video, only not in deep blue, but in color blocked leggings, a baggy jumper of the same colors and a leather jacket. “Where am I?” the girl asks, looking around the room. When her eyes meet Rose’s, they widen, as do Rose’s. The girl opens her mouth to scream, but Rose gets up and reaches to place her hand onto her mouth to make the girl stop. However, her hand goes right through her as if the girl’s made of air.  
“What. The. Hell?!” Rose brings out. “Who are you and… what are you?” She’s heard her abuela talk about ghosts and the afterlife a lot, but she never believed a word from it. Until now.  
“I’m June, and I think I died last night?” She doesn’t sound too sure of herself.  
“So… you’re a ghost?” Rose asks, trying to get a grip on the situation.  
“Yeah, I guess?” she turns her head to the tv, “And that’s me!” she points at herself in the deep blue. “Oof, that was a terrible pirouette.” She shakes her head at her own past mistakes.  
“The VHS tape came into the mail today… I got curious and played it. Do you know who send it?” June shakes her head. “This is weird…” Rose reaches her hand to place it on June’s shoulder, but it just goes through again.  
“Yeah… I should’ve believed my grandma when she talked about seeing that ghost…” June mutters.  
“Me too,” Rose chuckles, and it makes June smile too. “I’m Rose, by the way. Rose Hernandez.”  
“Juniper Fray. But just call me June.” She looks around Rose’s room for a moment, taking it all in. She really came back from the dead. How’s that even possible? Her grandmother really was onto something.  
“Hey,” Rose captures her attention, “I hope you don’t mind me asking… But how did you die?”  
“Oh, I got run over by a car. I was on my way back from my boyfriend’s, which is a ten minute walk with only one busy street and a car just came out of nowhere, going miles over the speed limit and just hit me. It got dark pretty quick…” June explains, pressing her lips together awkwardly, pretending not to think about the pain she felt when the car hit her or when the doctors were trying to save her.  
“Oh, I think I heard that on the news!” Rose exclaims as if a lightbulb lights up behind her eyes. “You didn’t die last night though…” June’s eyes widen at this. All she remembers was floating out of her hospital bed and watching her parents and Reggie cry for a little while until she was taken to this dark room for a while. “That was October 1994… It’s now June 1995.”  
“I died 8 months ago?” Rose nods her head in response. “Wow…” June falls back onto Rose’s bed.  
“Are you okay?” Rose asks, plopping down next to her new ghost friend. This sounds ridiculous. But Rose really gets a good vibe from June which makes it easier to grasp and be kind to her.  
“I mean… I’m dead, so not really?” June chuckles, and Rose does too. “How is it possible you playing that video brings me back to this realm after eight months of being in a dark room?” Rose shrugs her shoulders. A comfortable silence falls over Rose’s bedroom until there’s a knock on the door.  
“You okay, mija?” Rose’s father asks when he peeks inside. Rose’s eyes widen a little. She’s busted for sneaking someone inside.  
“Yeah, I’m fine!” she replies with a sheepish grin.  
“I thought I heard you talking to someone?” He never takes his eyes off Rose for once, never looking at June. Maybe he doesn’t see her. Maybe only Rose can see the ghost sitting next to her on her bed.  
“Uhm… I was chatting to Erin on the phone,” she points at the bright red phone on her nightstand.  
“Oh, alright! I’m going to go pick up your mom from work.” Rose nods her head, “See you later, mija.”  
“See you later, Papí.” Her dad closes the door, leaving Rose and June by themselves. Rose turns to June, just to check if she’s still there. “So, I can see you, but my dad can’t?”  
“Ye—I guess?” June replies, “Maybe it’s because you’re the one who brought me back?”  
“That sounds logical…” Rose trails off, her mind going a mile a second with all the questions she has for June. “What can you do? Walk through people? Walls?” June shrugs at this and gets up from the bed, walking straight towards the door and through it. Rose’s mouth drops open, and even June looks a little surprised when she returns to the room through the door. “Ooh! I’ve seen ghosts in films like poof anywhere! Can you do that?” Without having to think too much about it, June poofs out of the room, landing in a kitchen she’s never seen before, and then poofs back to Rose.  
“I think I just went to your kitchen?” Rose snickers, shaking her head.  
“Okay, poof back, I’ll meet you there. I’m kind of hungry anyway.” June nods her head and poofs out of the bedroom into the kitchen where she meets Rose a few seconds later. “This is crazy!” Rose laughs and opens the fridge to grab something to eat. “You must be hungry too, no?”  
“I don’t think I have a stomach, Rose…” June informs her, “I’m made of air.”  
Rose clicks her tongue, “Right.” She then takes a spot at the dining table, June following suit. “Why don’t you tell me something about your life, you know… before you…” she trails off suggestively, not wanting to say the word in case that would offend June or something.  
“I was a competitive dancer in Malibu, I started dancing when I was 6 and haven’t stopped since. I was still attending high school, sophomore year. My parents were very, very supportive of me and they helped me a lot with a lot of things… Last thing I remember is them crying at my hospital bed when the doctor pronounced me dead,” she lets out a wavering sigh, then smiles a little as she goes on, “I had a very loving boyfriend. His name was Reggie and I met him at the dance studios in Malibu. It’s a long story… But he was so amazing…” Rose’s lips curl up into an endeared smile before taking a bite from her sandwich. “He was a musician. Still is, I hope. He plays bass in a band with his three best friends and they’re really good. I wish I could still hear them play.”  
“Why don’t you go visit your parents and Reggie?” Rose suggests. June raises her eyebrows at her.  
“Are you already that bored of me you want me gone?” Rose’s eyes widen as she shakes her head ferociously. “Good, because I kind of don’t have anywhere else to go, I think…”  
“You can always come back here, June. But I think you might enjoy seeing your parents and boyfriend again?” The ghost girl sighs and nods her head. Rose is probably very right.  
“I’ll see you later,” June says before poofing out of the house and into what used to be her own. 

She lands in her own bedroom. It still looks exactly the same. The bed is made with her pale blue duvet covers and a checkered plaid. Even the little teddy bear holding the heart, which Reggie got her a couple months prior to her death, still sits there, unloved. She reaches out a hand to grab it, but her hand just goes straight through it.  
“Oh come on?!” she mutters to herself and tries again a couple of times. By the fifth time, she finally picks it up and holds it close to her chest while looking around the room. The walls are covered in Madonna, En Vogue and Bon Jovi posters, and framed pictures. Some pictures are of her and Maya when they were little, some of her and her parents, and a couple of her and Reggie. Even her picture with the entire band still hangs proudly from the wall. She smiles at the memory of her and the boys.  
Leaving Reggie’s teddy bear behind, she poofs out of the room and into the living room where she finds her parents in the sofa, watching a movie together. They used to do movie nights on Saturdays June didn’t have a competition, so it must be a Saturday tonight.  
June’s eyes wander around, taking it all in. This is where she grew up. This is where she spent most of her days, talking to her mother about things that happened at school or how adorable Reggie was during their date. Reggie really was like a son to them; it makes June wonder if he came to visit them after she died too.  
“Nobody puts baby in a corner,” June hears Patrick Swayze say on the tv. Her eyes fill with tears at the thought of them still watching her favorite movie without her. She turns to face them, finding them smiling at the screen in front of them.  
“Remember when Junie danced along with them?” her mom reminisces, and a single tear rolls of her cheek. Now June wished she could hug her, hug both of them. She wants to tell them she’s here with them, tell them she’s okay now.  
“She was really persistent on doing the lift with me,” her dad chimes in with a beaming smile. They could just perfectly imagine their little girl skipping around the room and then running up to her father, who raised her into the air with his big, strong arms. Just like Baby.  
Forcefully, June wipes at her tears before poofing out of her parents’ house. She just couldn’t stand being there anymore without being able to hug them or talk to them. So, instead she poofs into the Peter's home. Only to be met with screaming. June shuts her eyes for a moment. It still hasn’t stopped. She poofs into each of the boys’ bedrooms, but no one’s in. Archie’s probably with Tommy, Nate with his girlfriend and Reggie…  
June poofs out of the house and to the beach where she finds Reggie in the spot they often sat together. There are tears rolling down his cheeks, which just makes June feel worse. All of a sudden, he stops and looks around him for a moment as if feeling June’s presence. Her breath hitches in her throat.  
Reggie then wipes his tears and nose with the sleeve of his jacket and gets up. That’s when June notices he’s wearing the jacket he’d given to her to keep her warm to get home. It’s the jacket she died in. She watches as Reggie pulls it closer, almost hugging himself, while walking off. 

June goes back to Rose’s the next day. She’d been wandering around town, visiting Maya, Reggie’s friends, only to go back to her parents’ and hanging out in her own bedroom. It made her feel like she was alive again, even if it was for just a few moments.  
That just got boring and lonely since she couldn’t go and talk to her parents or ring Maya to talk to her for hours on end, so she just poofed back to where she first came after dying.  
“Aah!” Rose exclaims, startled at the sudden appearance of June in her bedroom. “Aye! Don’t do that, June! I’m serious!” Her Spanish accent comes out even more as she curses at the ghost in front of her.  
“Sorry, Rose,” June chuckles and watches as Rose does her makeup in front of her mirror.  
“How were your visits last night?” she asks without looking at her. June shrugs, exhaling slowly.  
“Very depressing,” she replies with a pained chuckle, “My parents were watching my favorite movie last night.” Rose turns around and offers her a sympathetic smile, unsure of what to tell a ghost in this situation. Or… any situation.  
“I’m sorry, June… I really thought it might do you some good to see them again,” she says whilst taking a black blouse from her closet. Then, she starts humming to the song that’s playing through her stereo.  
“Hey, what song is that?” June asks, deferring from the depressing subject of not being able to talk to her parents. She’d really rather not think too much about the things she can’t do and focus on things she can, like discovering new music.  
“It’s Waterfalls by TLC,” Rose responds. June’s eyes widen, nearly bulging out of her eyes.  
“That’s TLC? I used to love them when I was still alive! I used to play their first album on repeat!” Rose laughs at the excitement of her friend whilst putting on the blouse.  
“Yeah, they released this album in November last year.”  
“Could I not die a month later?” June rolls her eyes, plopping down on the bed. Rose chuckles, looking in the full-length mirror and messing up her dark curls a little for a rougher look. “Where are you going?”  
“Out with some of my friends…” she turns around to face the ghost girl. “You never went out did you?”  
“Not to clubs or parties, no,” June replies, “Still only sixteen.” She sighs in frustration and rolls her eyes.  
“Yeah, but you’re a ghost,” Rose wiggles her eyebrows at her new friend. June’s eyes widen at this. This would be the perfect opportunity to experience the joy of going out.  
“Let me go get dressed, wait here!” June poofs out and back to her parents’ house to put on an outfit that doesn’t consist of leggings and a sports bra, to poof back to Rose’s. “Let’s go!” The living girl jumps about three feet in the air, clutching her heart.  
“I’m never going to get used to that!” Once she’s calmed her heart down a little, she scans June’s body from head to toe. She’s wearing a bright red bodycon dress with spaghetti straps and red heels. “Girl, you clean up nice!” Rose compliments, genuinely impressed with the dead girl’s tremendous sense of fashion.  
“I bought it for my two-year-anniversary date with Reggie. He loved this dress,” June explains bashfully.  
“Aw, that’s adorable, Chica,” Rose reaches for the girl’s hand, but then remembers she can’t actually hold it. “Let’s go!” June giggles as she follows after Rose. She just knows she’s going to have so much fun with this girl.  
And she does. They spend the entire week together. Whether it’s going out together with Rose’s friends – without them knowing June’s even there – or hanging out in Rose’s bedroom, talking about the most bizarre things they could think of. Rose teaches June the new things that came out in 1995, especially all the new music. And June celebrates with her when she gets the job at the Orpheum.  
“I’ll be back soon, I promise!” Rose tells June when she’s all dressed up for her third night at the Orpheum. “Just read some magazines or listen to my Walkman!” June raises her eyebrows at her friend, both of them knowing June will join Rose soon, annoying her at her work by poofing everywhere. 

At the Orpheum that night, her boss tells her what she has to do. Tonight, she’s tending the bar and cleaning tables, just as a fair start and would be doing other things soon – he said the first day. She’s cleaning the bar when the band stops playing their song for soundcheck and fall into a conversation about how amazing that sounded. Rose shakes her head at the obnoxious huddle of teenage boys.  
“Let’s just do Now or Never and then you’re good to go,” the showrunner tells them, clearly getting annoyed. Rose doesn’t pay much attention to them, wiping down the table at the back of the venue. June then appears next to her, plopping down onto the comfortable sofa. The ghost girl is wearing a pink plaid skirt with a white shirt, white knee-high socks and white Keds.  
“Love that outfit,” Rose mutters, making sure no one can hear her talking to no one. June had changed into a new outfit before she came here, wanting to look amazing again tonight even though no one would be able to see except for Rose.  
“Thanks!” She places her feet onto the table Rose just cleaned. “What band is performing tonight?” Rose pushes her hand through June’s feet to push them off, but obviously failing. The opening notes of the band’s song blasts through the venue. June recognizes those riffs, and certainly the voice that follows through with the lyrics. She kicks her feet off the table and gets up from the couch, staring at the band on the stage.  
“ _Take off, last stop  
Countdown 'til we blast open the top  
Face first, full charge  
Electric hammer to the heart_”  
June’s non-existent heart beats faster as her eyes are focused on the bass player as he sings along with the lead singer.  
“They made it…” she mutters, a smile cracking through.  
“ _Clocks move forward  
But we don't get older, no  
Kept on climbing  
'Til our stars collided  
And all the times we fell behind  
Were just the keys to paradise_”  
“That’s my boyfriend, Rose… The bassist,” she points at Reggie without taking her eyes off him.  
“They have a good vibe,” Rose compliments, bopping her head along as the band goes into the chorus.  
“ _Don't look down  
'Cause we're still rising  
Up right now  
And even if we hit the ground  
We'll still fly  
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever  
But live it like it's now or never_”  
As if in trance, June walks through the table and into the completely empty venue, all the way up to the stage. She glances from Reggie to Luke to Alex behind the drums to Bobby and back to Reggie.  
“ _Hear the noise in my head  
It's calling out like a voice I can't forget  
One life, no regrets  
Catch up, got no time to catch my breath_”  
June’s mouth moves along with the lyrics now, remembering them playing that song in rehearsals in Bobby’s garage about a year ago.  
“ _And clocks move faster  
'Cause it's all we're after now, oh_”  
Luke nods to Reggie, who comes skipping towards his best friend to share the mic for the next part. June can’t help but chuckle, remembering they always did that during gigs.  
“ _Won't stop climbing  
'Cause this is our time, yeah_”  
Luke pushes Reggie away again and sings one of June’s favorite lines from the song.  
“ _When all the days felt black and white  
Those were the best shades of my life_”  
You could just tell how much fun the boys were having on that stage, even if it’s just a soundcheck.  
“ _Don't look down  
'Cause we're still rising  
Up right now  
And even if we hit the ground  
We'll still fly  
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever  
But live it like it's now or never_”  
Luke and Bobby then turn to their drummer as he sings the bridge.  
“ _We ain't searching for tomorrow”  
“Tomorrow_,” Reggie echoes, making June jump. That’s a new change.  
“ _'Cause we got all we need today”  
“Today”  
“Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins”  
“We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain_”  
Reggie rakes his fingers through his hair as he sings that last line of the bridge, and June swoons at how attractive he looks up there. With the sweat dripping from his face and his beautiful hair falling in front of his eyes, doing what he loves most.  
The boys now stop playing their instruments and step away from the mics. Their clapping being the only thing that guides them through the first part of the chorus.  
“ _Don't look down  
'Cause we're still rising  
Up right now_”  
The pyrotechnics at the sides of the stage make June jump slightly while the boys get back to playing their instruments.  
“ _And even if we hit the ground  
We'll still fly  
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever  
But live it like it's now or never  
It's now or never”  
“Now or never_”  
They play their very last chords or hit the last cymbals – in Alex’s case – and look out into the venue for their applause. Which they get from the bartenders and all the crewmembers of the show.  
“Whoooo!” Rose shouts, clapping her hands while the boys take a bow. “Yeah!” June poofs back to next to Rose, still in shock from how tight the boys played. It always sounded great during rehearsals, but this is a whole other level.  
“Thank you! We’re Sunset Curve!” Reggie winks at Rose as he says that before putting his bass on its stand, the others doing the same to their guitars and Alex coming up from behind his drums.  
“Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck, that was the tightest we ever played,” Bobby says, fist-bumping with Luke.  
“Wait until tonight man,” Luke says excitedly, looking out into the empty venue, “When this place gets packed with record execs!” June always thought Luke was the most passionate person she’s ever met. He got excited like a little puppy over small things or big things like this.  
“Alex, you were smoking!” Reggie compliments as he dabs his sweaty forehead with a towel.  
“Oh, no, I was just warming up! You guys were the ones on fire!” Alex deflects humbly to his bandmates.  
“Can you just own your awesomeness for once?” Reggie says, shaking his head. Alex looks over at Luke and Bobby, who give him encourages grins.  
“All right, I was killing it!” he agrees excitedly and shakes hands with Reggie.  
“Okay, I’m thinking to fuel up before the show…” Luke says, still panting, “I’m thinking street dogs!”  
Reggie opts for a simple “Ooh!” as a reaction as Alex twirls his drumstick around his finger, then pointing it to the lead singer, saying, “Yes!” Bobby, however, is thinking something way different.  
He hops off stage and walks up to Rose, the boys following suit.  
“Hey, Bobby, where are you going?!” Luke yells after him but follows him anyway.  
“I’m good,” Bobby says and leans onto the table Rose had just cleaned. June, though not seen by the boys, swallows a lump in her throat, almost nervous to see Reggie and the boys up close again. She stayed a few feet away from them last night, not wanting them to walk through her. That’d feel weird. “Vegetarian, I could never hurt an animal,” he tells Rose with a flirty smirk.  
“He totally ate a hamburger earlier,” June whispers to her, knowing the boy all too well. Rose has to try her best not to react to anything June says. From the boys’ perspective, there’s only one girl standing there, and that’s Rose.  
“You guys are really good,” Rose compliments the boys, making all four of them blush.  
“Thank you,” Luke says, leaning on Bobby’s shoulder.  
“I see a lot of bands, been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it.” June smiles at Rose’s genuine compliments to her boys.  
“That’s what we do this for,” Luke tells her, “I’m Luke, by the way.” He steps forward, pushing Bobby out of the way.  
“Hi, I’m Reggie.” He has that adorable smile on his face June always loved, the one he only used when flirting with her. He’d still flirt with her when they were already together. He’d flirt with her now if he could see her.  
“Alex,” the blondie gives a cute little wave. Then Bobby pushes himself back in front of Luke.  
“Bobby,” he introduces himself. June shakes her head at him. He’s always been kind of jealous at Luke for his luck with the ladies. That’s what you get when you’re the lead singer of a band.  
“Nice meeting you guys,” Rose says while Luke gives Bobby a wet willie. June chuckles at that. “I’m Rose.” The boys give her a smile until Reggie jumps into promo action.  
“Oh! Uh, here’s our demo, and a T-shirt, size beautiful.” Alex and June both scoff at Reggie’s pathetic attempt at flirting. He used to be way better at this a couple of years ago when they first started dating and when he only flirted with June.  
Rose holds up the shirt in front of her, an excited expression on her face. June never got a Sunset Curve T-shirt. Or a demo. All her sizes were beautiful though, according to Reggie.  
“Thanks!” she beams, “I’ll make sure not the wipe the table down with this one,” she jokes and drapes the shirt over her shoulder.  
“Oh! Good call! When they get wet, they sort of… fall apart in your hands,” Alex warns her, kind of regretting telling her this.  
“Don’t you guys have to go get hot dogs?” Bobby asks, clearly wanting them out and some alone time with Rose. The boys glance at Bobby, and when Luke opens his mouth, leaning in towards Rose, June knows what he’s going to say.  
“Yeah, he had a hamburger for lunch,” he exposes his best friend.  
“Called it,” June mutters as she sits down on the couch again while Reggie pats Bobby’s back before leaving with Luke and Alex. The ghost girl sits back while Bobby flirts with her new friend, muttering some comments as her old friend talks about how obnoxious his bandmates are and how he dreams of making it big in the music industry. “Tell him he’ll only make it with the boys by his side.” Rose ignores that last comment, not like she has time to react since someone bursts into the venue, panicking about how the band is dead.  
“What do you mean, the band is dead?” Bobby asks, his eyes wide and hands shaking.  
“They ate tainted hot dogs and died from food poisoning,” the man explains cautiously. Bobby freezes entirely, tears rolling down his cheeks. The news hits June hard too. Her friends, her boyfriend. They’re dead. Too. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to make it big, live the life they dreamed of, live the life June couldn’t.  
She gets up to go and hug Bobby, but when she wraps her arms around the sobbing mess in the middle of the venue, he slips right through her. Rose then decides to step in instead, wanting to offer Bobby the hug June can’t give him. June watches them, tears rolling down her own cheeks. Her boyfriend is dead, and he might not come back. Not the way June has thanks to Rose.  
He’s just completely gone.

# 2019, Los Feliz

Rose hasn’t seen June since that day in July in 1995. After finding out her friends and boyfriend died too, June disappeared for a while. Rose kind of assumed she joined them in heaven or something, wanting to spend their afterlife together since they can’t actually live the life they wanted.  
Twenty-four years after the incident, Bobby and Rose are still the best of friends. Both of them lived on with the boys – and June – in their hearts forever. Bobby went on to make music, as Trevor Wilson now. He didn’t want to be associated to the band anymore. He didn’t want people to go “Ah, you’re that Bobby, the rhythm guitarist of the band that died from bad hot dogs?” He wanted to live his own life, but still kept the boys’ memory somewhat alive by using Luke’s songs.  
Trevor and Rose went on and build their own families. Rose met Ray Molina, and in 2004 she became the mother of a beautiful daughter, Julie. Three years later, they brought a little boy into the world, Carlos. All while Trevor had a child with his wife, Sarah. They named her Carrie. Carrie and Julie are the same age and, because Rose and Trevor were the best of friends, Carrie and Julie were too. They spent days together making music and listening to artists their parents introduced them to.  
In 2019, however, tragedy strikes again. Rose becomes sick. Really sick. Her family takes good care of her, and Trevor and Carrie often come to visit, but the only one Rose wants to see now is June. She’s the only one who could reassure her she’s going to be fine.  
June appears when Rose only has a few days left to live. She could feel something was off, and even though she’d been spending her time mourning over her dead boyfriend, trying to find him, she had to come in and make sure everything’s okay.  
For a moment, she watches the Molina family in the hospital room. Julie and Carlos are singing a song to their mom, though Julie sounds amazing, Carlos still has a long way to go before he’ll make it into the music industry.  
“Come on, kids. Let mom rest for a little,” Ray tells the kids and takes them out of the hospital room. Rose smiles up at June as she steps closer to the sick woman in the hospital bed.  
“I’m so sorry I didn’t come earlier,” June says, reaching for Rose’s hand but going right through it.  
“It’s okay. You needed time.” June smiles weakly at the only friend she ever made in the afterlife. “I’m glad you’re here now. I need you to do me a favor.” The woman gets into a fit of coughs before composing herself again to speak. “Can you watch over my kids and Ray? And make sure Julie doesn’t give up music? I’m sure it’s going to be tough for her to play, but I need you to help her through it. Somehow…” she coughs again and reaches out for June. This time around, June can hold her hand, which surprises both of them a little. But it’s also a sure sign Rose’s last minutes are going in.  
“I promise, Rose. I’ll find a way.” Rose gives her a thankful smile whilst her eyes are slowly closing, her body shutting down. An ear-piercing peep sounds from the machines around Rose. “I promise,” June whispers before poofing out, so the doctors can get to her easily.  
June watches from a distance how Ray, Julie and Carlos are huddled up in the hallway, crying over the loss of their mother and wife. She’ll make sure all three of them are happy and healthy, and that Julie doesn’t give up on music. No matter how hard it is.


	3. Now or Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year after Rose Hernandez-Molina's death, June meets Willie, another ghost who introduces her to his boss, Caleb Covington. He could maybe help her bringing the boys back. Turns out the man isn't really interested in helping out a helpless teenage girl ghost, and asks her to join his dance crew instead. June being the dancer she is, says yes. What's better than dancing for an eternity? Realizing Caleb won't help her, Willie does instead. He gives her a genius tip on how to help the boys back. Five months later, their plan succeeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More than 50% of this chapter is straight from the show. You all probably know this by heart by now, but I still wanted to include it since it's an important part of this story too. Though, I added a couple of things in the boys' persepective that we didn't get to see on the show, so that is mine.  
> Thank you guys so much for reading! I really do appreciate all the comments, kudo's and reads!

# 2020, Hollywood

It’s been nearly a year since Rose died and June still hasn’t found a way to get Julie to play piano and sing again. She’s been hanging out in the Molina’s garage where Reggie and the band used to rehearse since this house once belonged to Bobby’s parents. But since Bobby, now Trevor Wilson, has made it big, he decided to sell the house to the Molina’s. Rose used the garage as her studio too, but June only knows this as Sunset Curve’s studio.  
She left notes, prayed to whatever God would hear her, left the songs Rose wrote for Julie out on the piano. But the now sixteen-year-old girl never returned to her mom’s studio, leaving June upset and frustrated. She promised Rose she would make sure Julie didn’t ban music from her life entirely.  
June decides to go out for a walk on Sunset Boulevard, mulling over all the ideas she has left. She’s so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she doesn’t even realize where she’s going until someone pulls her off the street by her arm. A gasp escapes her body as she bumps into someone else’s. She quickly turns around to look up at the darkest brown eyes she has ever seen.  
“I know you’re a ghost and you can go through cars, but I died being run over by a car while skating, and cars give me the heebie-jeebies,” the boy chuckles uncomfortably as he pulls his helmet off.  
“I got run over by a car too! Though, I was on foot…” The boy laughs loudly.  
“No way! We have the same death stories!” He holds his hand up for a high five that June gladly gives him. “I’m Willie,” he introduces himself.  
“June.” The two smile at each other. “Is it rude to ask how you came back as a ghost?” Willie raises his eyebrows in surprise, and motions for June to follow him to the bench near them. They sit down, Willie balancing his board against the bench.  
“I don’t actually remember. All I know is, I was stuck in Limbo Headquarters for a while and then suddenly I apparated back into my old bedroom. Been skating the streets of Los Angeles ever since.”  
“What’s Limbo Headquarters? Is that the dark room?” June asks, earning a chuckle from the boy.  
“That’s part of it, yes. That’s the waiting room, so to speak. Some people never get to Limbo Headquarters, you know, the part between life and dead, they just get resurrected by someone they love or are somehow connected to.” June’s brain jumps from one conclusion to another. She was connected to Rose somehow and Rose is probably stuck in Limbo Headquarters, as do the boys.  
“Cool,” June manages to bring out while her mind is going too fast for her to handle.  
“How did it happen for you?” he shoots the question back.  
“Someone played a video of me dancing, she received it in the mail, or something. I don’t really know who send it and neither did she… But it somehow worked. She could actually see me. Is that a normal thing?” Willie’s eyes widen at this.  
“She could see you?” June nods.  
“Yeah, and she died last year and I kind of promised her I would watch over her family and make sure her daughter didn’t give up music, which I’m totally failing at, by the way…” Willie chuckles sympathetically at her ramblings. She seems stressed, even in the afterlife “I’ve got no clue what I’m doing, and I’ve been dead for twenty-six years.”  
“Yeah, you’d think you’d get all the answers when you die…” he trails off suggestively.  
“I know, right? I mean, my boyfriend and his friends died a year after I died, and I have no clue where they are or how I could find them?” Willie raises his finger as if getting an idea.  
“I think I know someone who could help you with that!” he says excitedly.  
“Really? There’s like an all-knowing and all-mighty ghost or something?” Willie thinks about this for a moment, tilting his head slightly.  
“Or something. Come on!” He puts his helmet back on, grabs his skateboard and June’s hand and poofs them away from Sunset Boulevard. The two of them land in a large hotel lobby. It’s awfully quiet around them, almost as if the hotel’s been deserted for years.  
“William! Just the ghost I was looking for!” a voice bellows from behind them. Willie and June turn around to meet a tall, forty-something, handsome man. His bright blue eyes dart over to June. “Ah, you brought a friend?” he asks. The intimidating man reaches his hand out towards her.  
“I’m June Fray,” she introduces herself, shaking his hands politely, but with shaking hands.  
“Welcome to the Hollywood Ghost Club, June. I’m Caleb Covington, the owner of this snazzy place.” June looks around at the dark purple drapes everywhere.  
“The Hollywood Ghost Club?” she asks, looking at Willie for more information.  
“A club for lifers and ghosts to come together and bond,” Willie elaborates quietly.  
“Yes! And I am looking for more talent in my crew! Do you possess any sort of talent, Juniper?” June swallows hard. He already knows her full name, what else does he know about her?  
“Uhm… I was a competitive dancer when I was still alive,” she answers, avoiding eye contact.  
“Perfect! How would you like to join my dance crew and dance for sold-out shows for eternity?” He smiles his show-stopping smile. A smile June can’t say no to. The opportunity is one in a million. Do what you love for eternity does sound very compelling.  
“She actually had a question for you, Caleb…” Willie interrupts carefully. He too seems a bit intimidated by the big guy, which comforts June a little bit. At least he doesn’t have that effect on just her. “Her boyfriend and friends died a year after her, twenty-some years ago, and she hasn’t been able to find them…” Caleb’s eyes dart from Willie to June and back.  
“I’ll check with the manager of Limbo Headquarters,” Caleb rushes out before focusing back on June, “So, what do you say, Juniper? An eternity of dance? Right here?” June bites her lip, thinking it over.  
“Uhm…Yeah, sure? Why not?” She surprises herself with that answer.  
“Perfect!” Caleb says, and with the wave of his hand, puts her into a snazzy dance outfit. The yellow dress has a beautiful lace bodice and ends in over-the-knee fringes. Her long, blonde hair’s done up and jazzed up with a feather and gold chained headpiece. “I’ll see you tonight for your first performance.” June opens her mouth to ask her when rehearsals are, but Caleb has already poofed out of the room.  
“Did I just do something stupid?” she asks Willie.  
“No, Caleb’s crew is really fun!” he reassures her a little, “But I doubt he’s going to help you with finding your friends…” he trails off a little, looking down at his feet. His head then snaps up again when an idea pops up in his head. “You said you were resurrected by a girl who played your video right?” June nods her head, “And you need to help her daughter out?” The sprockets in her brain start turning slowly. “She might possess the same paranormal powers her mother did?”  
“I should have her listen to the band’s demo and get her to bring them back! They might be able to help her find the music again!” It has finally clicked in her brain, making Willie smile proudly at her. “You’re a genius, Willie!” She poofs out of the hotel and back to the garage in Los Feliz where she goes up to the loft and places the boys’ demo Rose left right in sight. Now it’s up to Julie to start cleaning out the garage for the big move and find the CD, bringing the boys back into June’s afterlife and the music back into her own. All that’s left now, is waiting. And dancing.  


# Five months later, Los Feliz

After a year of not being able to set foot into her mother’s studio, Julie finally picks up the courage and opens the heavy garage doors. She turns on the lights, revealing a spacious room filled out with a grand piano that’s covered by a white sheet, a couch, two armchairs and a coffee table, a couple of knickknacks on the shelves here and there, and a bunch of plants that look a little sorry for themselves. Julie takes a deep breath and steps inside, already feeling like she shouldn’t be here.  
She places her hands onto the sheet on the piano and tears it off, making it slither down to the floor. A shaky breath leaves her body as she makes her way around the piano and towards the stool where she finds a song her mother has written her. Julie’s been too scared to play it, scared it might hurt her as much as not having her mom with her hurts. She places it gingerly on top of the piano and sits down.  
She inhales deeply, looking up to the ceiling, “I’m so sorry, mom. That I haven’t been in here.” Her fingers glide down the smooth wooden cover of the keys, then gets up again. She walks up to the stairs that lead to the loft, wondering what’s up there. When her mother was alive, she always told Julie there was a treasure up there that belonged to musicians that passed away long ago. Though Julie didn’t believe it at the time, she’s still very curious about it.  
Cautiously and carefully with curiosity more and more rising within her, she climbs up the stairs. She indeed finds a treasure of passed musicians in there; drumsticks, guitars, a keyboard, games, and a bunch of other junk those musicians probably left. Including a CD. After having looked around for a while, she reaches out to the CD case and picks it up. On the front it reads “Sunset Curve”, a band she’s never heard of before. It was probably the band that lived in here, that left all this stuff in here.  
Julie takes the CD downstairs with her and puts it into her mom’s stereo. After having pressed play, she goes to sit down on the couch to have a listen. A rock guitar riff plays through the speakers, and then the band begins to sing.  
“ _Take off, last stop  
Countdown ‘til we blast open the top  
Face first, full charge_”  
The singing is suddenly overpowered by loud, obnoxious screaming. Julie has to bring her hands up to her ears to protect them from the deafening sound. The screaming intensifies until a bright light blinds her too and causes the music to stop abruptly.  
With a loud thud, three guys fall onto her garage floor, making her jump up from the couch in fear. The boys groan in pain and cough from the sudden impact. Gasping and panting, the boys get up from the floor, looking around the familiar space.  
“Woah!” one of them says, completely confused, “How did we get back here?” His question sets Julie off into a loud scream, making the boys jump and scream in fear too. They reach for one another, holding onto the one – or two – things they know. Julie runs out of the garage, screaming, leaving the boys lost and confused.  
“Who was that?” Reggie asks once the boys have composed themselves and let go of one another.  
“I don’t know, but why are we back in Bobby’s garage?” Luke asks, looking around.  
“We died, right?” Alex questions, just to be sure.  
“I’m pretty sure we did,” says Luke. The three boys start looking around the place. None of their stuff is in here, pretty much everything is new except for a couple of things like the darts board. Reggie accidently poofs himself out of the garage and back in.  
“Woah!” he says, capturing the boys’ attention. “Look what I can do!” he shows them again, poofing in and out of the garage. Luke tries too, giggling a little at the feeling it gives him. Alex tries to pick something up, his fingers going right through it.  
“So… We’re ghosts?” Alex asks, getting a little anxious about the whole ordeal. He got anxious easily when he was alive, dying didn’t help much and neither does coming back as ghosts.  
“Yeah, man!” Luke sounds way too excited for Alex’s liking.  
It takes a little while for Julie to pick up the courage after talking to her dad, to go back to the garage, armed with a cross this time. The boys are nowhere to be found in there, she wonders if it was real.  
“Are you still here?” she lets out a shaky breath, “Whatever you are?” She turns to the piano now. “I know I saw something. I’m not crazy,” she mumbles to herself, dropping the cross by her side in defeat.  
“Well, we’re all a little crazy,” Luke says as they poof back into the garage. Julie turns around at the voice coming from behind her, raising her cross again as another scream erupts from her body. The scream rattles the boys again. Reggie holds his hands up as if that’s going to defend him from it, Luke flinches and cowers closer towards his buddies, while Alex brings a hand up to his ear, the other one still tucked into his jean jacket.  
“Oh my God, please, stop screaming!” Alex shouts as a dog howls in the distance. The boys recompose themselves when Julie finally stops screaming.  
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my mom’s studio?!” she asks loudly and sternly.  
“Your mom’s studio?” Luke starts, walking up to Julie. She brings the cross higher to keep him from coming closer. “This is our studio.” He holds up his hands in defense while walking around Julie in a big circle. “Trust me. Fine,” he jumps onto the piano as Julie follows him with her cross, “The grand piano is new, and… and… and..,” he jumps off again while Julie’s occupied with pointing the cross to Reggie and Alex. Luke walks up to the couch, gasping in delight when he sees it. “My couch!” he shouts, flinging himself onto it. After a big, happy sigh, he looks around again, noticing the guitar next to his piece of furniture. “That is definitely not my six-string,” he points to it, then looks up at the ceiling. Since when are there chairs stuck to the ceiling? He gets up from the couch and steps over the coffee table. “Can you give me one second?” Julie still follows him with her cross. “Just… give me a second. Thank you.” He walks up to the boys, calling an emergency band meeting.  
“Guys, what is going on? How did she get her stuff in here so fast?” he asks his friends, both of them equally as confused as Luke himself.  
“Maybe… Maybe she’s a witch. There’s chair’s floating on the ceiling,” Reggie suggests as he and Luke look up to their proof.  
“Ok, there is no such thing as witches,” Alex chimes in with his sensible thinking.  
Reggie raises his eyebrows.  
“You sure? Because I used to think there’s no such thing as ghosts.”  
Alex nods his head agreeingly. “That’s fair,” he says.  
“Ok, so we’re going with witch?” Luke asks, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. Alex hits him on the shoulder.  
“No, we’re not going with witch!” he whisper-shouts. “She’s not a witch. Ok, look. She’s just scared. Ok? Let someone,” he places his hand on his chest, “with a softer touch handle this.” Alex gives the two boys a knowing look before turning around towards Julie. He takes a deep breath. “Why are you in our studio?” he asks, just a bit louder than Luke did the first time. Instead of answering, Julie pushes her cross right through Alex’s chest. She pulls back, eyes widening at her cross.  
“Oh my gosh! How did you do that?!” she asks him. Alex sighs.  
“Ok, well clearly you’re not understanding…” she turns to his friends, “Clearly, she doesn’t get it.” He faces Julie again now. “Ok, look. We’re ghosts, all right? We’re just three ghosts and we’re really happy to be home. So, thank you for the flowers. They really brighten up the room.”  
“We’re actually in a band called Sunset Curve,” Luke jumps in as he and Reggie join by Alex’s side.  
“Tell your friends,” Reggie adds cheekily.  
“Last night was supposed to be a really big night for us. It was going to change our lives,” Luke says. Alex leans in closer to Luke’s ear.  
“I’m uh… I’m pretty sure it did,” he reminds him. Luke glares at Alex at his dumb comment until Julie interferes, taking something out of her back pocket in a panic.  
“This is freaking me out,” she sighs, then grunts as she holds the cross up at the ghosts again.  
“What is that? What are you doing?” Luke asks, pointing at the – to him – foreign object in her hand.  
“It’s my phone,” she replies, then scoffs at herself. “No! Stop talking to them. They aren’t real. There’s no such thing as cute ghosts.” She focuses back on her phone now.  
“Aw! You think we’re cute?” Reggie asks, grinning ear-to-ear. Julie simply glares up at him for a second before reading the article on this site she found on Google. Alex leans in to look at her screen.  
“Who’re you calling?” he asks with a smile on his face. Julie looks up at him again.  
“I’m googling Sunset Swerve,” she replies.  
“Sunset Curve!” the boys say in unison, their tone angry and annoyed. She chuckles awkwardly, then looks at her phone once more.  
“Woah,” she starts, “There is a Sunset Curve.” The boys give her an ‘I told you’ look. “You did die… But not last night.” She thinks about it for a moment, her brain doing the calculating. “Twenty-five years ago?” Reggie’s eyebrows knit together as Alex scoffs.  
“What?” Reggie says, “No. No, no, no… Th-th-that’s impossible,” he stutters, “After we floated out of the ambulance, all we did was go to that dark room where Alex cried.”  
“Well…” Alex brings out in a high-pitched noise, “I don’t think… I think we were all pretty upset, OK?” He chuckles it off, but he knows it’s true.  
“But that was only for like an hour,” says Luke, “We just showed up here,” he says this to Julie.  
“Look…” she shows them her phone, “I’m just telling you what my phone says.” All three of them lean forward to read the article on the small screen. “See? You died in 1995. When you were seventeen. It’s now 2020.” Reggie’s eyes widen at this.  
“So, this is the future?” he asks. Julie locks her phone and puts it back into her pocket.  
“Wait. So… So, it has been twenty-five years?” Alex asks, turning to his friends again. “I have been crying for 25 years?! How is that possible?!” The volume of his voice could carry for miles if people could hear him talk.  
“Well, you’re a very emotional person,” Reggie argues.  
“I am not!” Alex’s voice cracks at this point, making it sound high-pitched.  
“Thought you were afraid to come out here?” A voice the boys don’t recognize, but Julie does, interrupts their conversation. A small twelve-year-old boy walks in and the boys step aside so he doesn’t have to go through them. It’s Carlos, Julie’s little brother. He has the same hair and eye color as Julie. “Are you talking to your ghost friend? How does he look? Is he hideous?” Alex chuckles at the little man’s words.  
“He can see you,” he says to Reggie.  
“No, he can’t,” Julie says to Alex, which confuses Carlos as he glances around to find someone else.  
“What?” Carlos asks, crossing his arms.  
“Uh… What do you want?” Julie stammers. She has to be more careful. This isn’t worth seeing Doctor Turner three times a week over.  
“A normal sister for starters,” Carlos says wittily, “Stop being weird and come eat.” He uncrosses his arms and turns around to walk out of the garage. Once Julie’s certain he’s out of ear shot, she turns back to her new ghost friends.  
“He couldn’t see you,” she states, getting more and more confused by the second.  
“Yeah… I mean… That’s…” Alex glances at his friends, “Usually how ghosts work.” Julie takes a deep breath, then lets it out into a sigh as she walks past them to the door, turning around before she can leave.  
“Look, I’m very sorry for what happened to you guys, but this isn’t your studio anymore. You have to leave.” Julie turns around to leave, but Luke stops her by stepping up and stammering a couple words.  
“We didn’t get your name,” he informs her, chuckling slightly.  
“It’s Julie,” she answers.  
“Cool,” Luke chuckles, “I-I’m Luke,” he steps forward to shake her hand, but Julie raises the cross again, making him halt in his tracks. “By—by the way… And this is…” he trails off for the boys to continue while stepping back.  
“Reggie. I’m Reggie,” Reggie raises his finger. “Hey.” Julie glares at him.  
“And…” Luke goes on.  
“Alex,” he gives a little wave. “How’s it going?” he sounds a little anxious again.  
“Ba-da,” Luke says softly, presenting his band, his best friends.  
“OK?” Julie drops her cross and walks out of the garage, leaving the boys by themselves again.  
“Julie seems nice,” Reggie retorts with a smile tugging at his lips. Alex groans, dropping his head in annoyance before looking back up at his oblivious friend.  
“Did you miss the part where she kicked us out, or?” Reggie’s eyes scan the ceiling as he thinks about it. “Yes… OK…” The three boys split up to see if they can find anything that belongs to them and they’d want to keep for when they leave the garage, like Julie asked them to.  
“I really like what she’s done with the place,” Reggie says as he takes it all in.  
“Look, guys!” Luke beckons them, holding up a bundle of papers. Reggie and Alex join Luke at the piano, looking along at the song in his hands. “If this is something Julie’s mom wrote, she’s really talented.”  
“Maybe we should go and tell her!” Reggie suggests excitedly.  
“Yeah, and maybe tell her we like what she’s done with the place?” Alex suggests, looking around the room again. He really does appreciate the tiny details Julie’s mom added to her studio to make it hers.  
“Let’s go,” Luke drops the song on the piano again and follows the guys out of the garage and towards the home. The three step through the door, finding Julie and her family at the dinner table.  
“AH!” Julie shouts when she sees the boys. The three freeze in their tracks, once again grabbing onto one another. Julie’s family gives her a weird look, which makes her chuckle awkwardly. “That’s me, ripping off the band-aid!” She motions ripping off a band-aid as her brother laughs before getting back to his spaghetti. Her aunt grabs her by the chin then.  
“There’s my brave girl!” Julie turns her head to face Luke, who’s standing next to her now.  
“Hey, Julie. I really like what you guys did with the place.” He gives her a charming smile.  
“You shouldn’t be here,” Julie tells him off. Ray stops in his tracks, eyes wide. To them, it sounds like Julie’s saying it to her aunt.  
“Oh, I’m just here to help, mija,” Aunt Victoria rubs her back comfortingly. Julie glances back at the ghosts in the hallway for some assistance as if they could actually offer her some.  
“Oh… I think that’s our cue to leave,” Alex whispers to Luke as they’re backing off. Julie turns to her tía again.  
“I mean, you should be at Pilates!” She opens her arms and takes her auntie in for a hug. “Thanks for bringing us food.” She glares at the boys, mid-hug. Reggie backs up towards the boys, pushing them to the door.  
“We should’ve called first,” he whispers apologetically and pushes them through.  
“Hey! We should check if our equipment is still in the garage!” Luke suggests like an excited puppy and skips towards the garage again with the boys in tow. In the loft, Luke finds their guitars again and Alex finds his drum kit somewhere in the back.  
“Shouldn’t we leave before Julie comes back and gets mad we’re still here?” Alex asks, but still sets up his kit anyways. Luke shrugs as he sets up the amps along with Reggie.  
“Chill, man. We’ll just play a couple songs and then be on our merry way.” Once everything’s set up, Alex counts the boys in, and they start rocking on their instruments again. They haven’t played in twenty-five years and this right here makes them feel alive again. If they get to spend an eternity playing their instruments without anyone being bothered buy it, then being dead might not be the worst.  
“Guys! Guys, stop!” Luke turns around at the faint sound of Julie’s voice over the instruments. “Enough! Stop! Cut it out!” Reggie stops playing his bass while Alex hits his last drums and Luke does one last riff. Julie crosses her arms. “The whole neighborhood could hear you! I thought I told you to leave?!” The boys’ eyes widen at this and Alex gets up from his stool.  
“Wait. People can hear us play?” Luke asks, equally in shock as his bandmates – and Julie, even though she refuses to admit it. Luke leans in closer to Julie with hope written all across his face.  
“Yeah, and so did my dad and my brother!” Reggie puts his bass back in its stand.  
“W-wait, wait,” Alex stammers, “So, only you can see us, but everyone can hear us?” Luke nods his head vigorously. “I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?” He doesn’t sound as anxious as he truly feels.  
“Who cares, man? People can hear us play!” Luke exclaims, fist-bumping both Reggie and Alex.  
“We might be dead, but our music isn’t,” Reggie says and fist-bumps Alex now too.  
The garage door opens again, revealing a worried-looking Ray Molina.  
“Dad!” Julie tenses up a little.  
“Hey,” he says with a sigh. Luke places his guitar back in its stand, looking at the older man. “Just making sure you’re okay…” Reggie stares at Ray with longing eyes as he says that. If only his father ever came to check up on him every now and again when he was alive.  
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just had to turn off the CD player,” Julie reassures him, pointing at the corner where the stereo resides. Julie turns back to her father, who has his eyes focused on the instruments in the middle of the studio.  
“Wait. Is this the junk that was in the loft?” he asks, thoroughly impressed.  
“Junk?” Luke sounds offended. Ray walks behind the drumkit, stopping right next to Alex. He hits a couple of the toms.  
“Some of this stuff is in pretty good shape,” Ray notices while the boys look at him in pure horror. He hits the bass drum and then twirls the cymbals around. “Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks.”  
“What?” Alex is about to lose it. “Yo, stop touching my drums!” he shouts in Ray’s ear, forgetting he can’t hear him, so he turns to Julie. “Tell him to stop touching my drums!” Luke turns to Julie, gesturing at her to tell her father off or do something so their equipment isn’t going to be sold.  
“I liked that song you had on,” Ray says as he comes back from behind the drumkit that Alex is furiously cleaning now.  
“Sweet!” Luke exclaims excitedly and steps up beside Ray. He suddenly likes the dad a little more. “We’re Sunset Curve,” he says as though the man could actually hear.  
“Tell your friends,” Reggie says, joining Luke at Ray’s side while Alex comes to stand next to Reggie.  
“It’s just an old CD I found…” Julie tells her father.  
“Still, it’s nice that you’re listening to music again,” says Ray to his little girl. “Out here, you can play whatever you want, whenever you want,” he moves his arms, making his hands go through Reggie’s and Luke’s non-existent bodies since they’re standing so close to him.  
“Oh!” Reggie giggles, rubbing his tummy at the weird feeling. “That’s nice!” he looks up at Alex.  
“Stay out of this!” Julie snarls at Reggie, who looks down at the floor. He never dealt well with people snarling at him.  
“I-I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t…” Ray trails off, sending Julie into a little panic.  
“Oh, no, no, no, no. Not you. I mean... uh… er—” she stutters and walks up to her dad. “You know, give me a minute.” She grabs his hand and leads him towards the door.  
“Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey,” he interferes and turns to face his daughter instead, placing his hands on her shoulders. “We’re going to figure out this music program thing,” he reassures her.  
“Thanks, dad,” Julie smiles at him, then points her thumb at the door to kindly tell him to leave. He obeys, earning a little wave from Reggie he can’t see, and once he’s out completely, Julie closes the door and faces the boys again.  
“He likes our song,” Luke says with the excitement of a toddler on Christmas day.  
“Oh yeah. He doesn’t count,” Alex shrugs, “He’s a dad.”  
“Why can’t you guys just be normal ghosts?” Julie’s angry voice captures the boys’ attention again. “Hang out in an old mansion. I hear Pasadena’s nice!” She growls at them before pushing the door open and leaving again.  
“I think she’s warming up to us,” Alex says with a happy smile on his face as he turns to his friends.  
“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to go to Pasadena,” Reggie agrees, but Luke isn’t so certain about it. He poofs out and in front of Julie, who’s making her way to her house, making her jump.  
“Aah! Stop that! I’m serious!” Luke walks up closer to her, holding his hands up in defense.  
“I’m sorry.”  
“What do you want?” Julie crosses her arms over her chest.  
Luke glances back at the garage for a second. “I know this is all completely insane, but you do know how rad this is? People… Actual people can hear us play!”  
“Yeah. It’s just I’ve just had a really, really awful day. I got to go.” She passes him to resume her walk to the house, but Luke wouldn’t be Luke if he gave up already.  
“Well, I’m sorry you had a bad day.” His voice makes her turn around again. “But three guys just found out they had a bad twenty-five years, and then they find out that the one thing, the one thing, they lived for in the first place they can still do. That’s pretty rad.” Julie takes a deep breath.  
“You’re right. It’s just…”  
“Your bad day,” Luke finishes her sentence for her. “Yeah. I know.” An awkward silence falls over the both of them while Luke tries to figure out what to say next and Julie glances down at her feet. “Look, I’m sorry we came into your life, but… What I just felt in there actually made me feel alive again. We all felt alive again. You can kick us out if you want, but we’re not giving up music. We can play again. That’s a gift no musician would ever turn down.” He sighs, knowing there’s no convincing Julie. “You got to know that. Clearly, your mom is into music!” he motions towards the garage to emphasize his point. The mention of her mother pains Julie a little bit.  
“Was,” she corrects him. “She passed away.” Luke’s happiness fades away a little, knowing what it feels like to lose a mom.  
“I am… So sorry…” he whispers, not knowing what else to tell her.  
“Yeah, we didn’t know,” Alex chimes in instead. The two other boys must’ve poofed in during Luke’s speech or something. They’re standing behind the rock that separates the road to the house from the space in front of the garage. Julie turns her head to the two other boys and sighs.  
“It’s all right.” Now she’s contemplating whether to ask the question that’s jumped into her head, but decides to do so anyway. “You guys haven’t… seen her anywhere, have you?” She leans against the rock with her hand to inch closer to Alex and Reggie. “From wherever you’re from?”  
“Um…” Alex glances at Reggie for back-up, but he simply shakes his head. “No. No, I mean, you’re kind of the first person we’ve seen.” Julie nods her head, understanding that her mother’s gone forever.  
“Yeah, but she’s not dead, so that doesn’t really answer her question,” Reggie argues.  
“Yeah. I think she knows what we mean.” Alex turns back to Julie then, “I’m sorry for your loss.”  
“Thanks.” She takes another deep breath. “Sorry I got mad. You guys are kind of good.”  
“Kind of?” Luke asks, slightly offended. “Y-y-you know that’s just twenty-five years getting dusted off,” he swipes his hand over the other, motioning the dusting off.” Reggie and Alex both chuckle.  
“Yeah, do you play the piano too?” Reggie asks, looking back at the garage.  
“No,” Julie answers a little too quickly, “No, I don’t play. That was my mom’s stuff in there.”  
“No way, she’s an amazing songwriter!” Luke exclaims, getting excited again. Julie nods her head solemnly.  
“She was,” she replies, then looks up at Luke again in confusion. “Wait. How would you know?” Luke opens his mouth, trying to find the right words, then licks his lips and sighs.  
“There’s a song on the piano. If it’s hers…” he trails off a little. “Your mom was really talented.” It still hurts Julie a lot to talk or think about her mom. Even to these complete strangers that are ghosts from twenty-something years ago. She simply nods her head and turns around to go into the house, but stops herself and turns back.  
“I guess…” she captures the boys’ attention again, “If you need a place to stay… You can stay in there. There’s bathroom in the back and a couch that turns into a bed if you still use any of that stuff.”  
“Dibs on the shower!” Reggie shouts, raising his finger excitedly. The others give him a weird and confused glance. “I just really like showers… And sometimes the occasional bath,” he informs them with that wide smile still on his face.  
“This…” Julie sighs, shaking her head, “This is just too weird.” She motions at the boys with her hands before turning around and really leaving to get back into the house. The boys, being left out there, cheer silently before heading back into the garage. Their new home. Or old home… They’re not sure how to call it. But it is home.


	4. Bright Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willie and June spend a bit of time together. Willie answers all of June's questions and June gets to know more about her new ghost friend. Sunset Curve performs 'Bright' with Julie at her school where they find out people can see them when they play music with Julie. Reggie thinks he sees June.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of this chapter is once again taken from the episode. Anything that's not shown on the show is all mine, otherwise, the credit's all Kenny Ortega's and his crew. 
> 
> Thanks for the love on this story so far, friends!

# 2020, Hollywood

Julie’s song has been stuck in June’s head for three days non-stop. She knew her boys would help Julie out to find the music in her heart again. They were always the reason for June’s happiness and giggles when they were still alive. Now she just needs to give the boys some time to adapt to this new afterlife before going to visit them and reconnect after twenty-six years.  
She’s stopped checking up on them and focused on Caleb’s dance routines. There were no dance rehearsals whatsoever, which freaked June out a little bit on the first night, but Willie did tell her she’d be fine. “Caleb’s a magician, you’ll see what he can do,” he’d said. By night two, she was a little more confident about the whole performance. It’s the same every night anyway.  
“Ah! Here you are!” June says when she’s poofed into an unfamiliar location where she found Willie. He’s skateboarding an empty pool in the backyard of the biggest mansion June has ever seen. “Whose house is this?” she asks, pointing at it whilst gracefully sitting down on the edge in her plaid dress, her high-knee-socks-and-Keds covered feet dangling off. Willie stops at her side and drops down next to her. He takes his helmet off, shaking out his manes.  
“Justin Bieber,” he replies with a smile.  
“Wow…” June breathes out, “Who’s that?” Willie chuckles, tucking a strand hair behind his ear.  
“He’s a singer, very popular nowadays.” He exhales deeply. “You really pick up a lot of things when you’re skateboarding Sunset Boulevard.” June nods her head, knowing she still has a lot to learn. Maybe if she didn’t go into hiding after Sunset Curve’s death to go and find them, she’d have learned a lot more. “Did your plan work?” he then asks, after a few moments of silence.  
“Yeah! I think so! I mean, the boys have come back as ghosts and Julie played a song a couple of days ago, so that’s good!” she explains with a sad smile on her face. All she wishes for is being with the boys again, seeing her boyfriend again.  
“Why are you so sad about it?” Willie queries, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  
“Because I wish I could actually spend time with them, but I think it’s better to give them some time to get used to the whole afterlife thing. And besides, Caleb has me poofing in and out of the Hollywood Ghost Club for every performance.” There’s movement in the mansion, distracting June for a moment, but bringing her right back to Willie on the edge of the empty pool.  
“Oh, yeah! How’s that going?” he asks. June sighs deeply and lets out a chuckle.  
“It was very nerve-wrecking at first, but I feel like I’m getting better at it every time!” Willie chuckles at her excitement. “You should come and watch sometime. If Caleb allows that?”  
“Yeah, Caleb and I have a uhm… interesting relationship. He lets me in whenever I want.” Willie replies.  
“How did you get in his club?” she questions and looks out onto the valley in front of them.  
“I kind of got in some sort of accident with a lifer and he offered his help… Let’s say I owe him a lot now…” Willie clearly doesn’t want to get into it too much, so June doesn’t push it either. She’s just glad she has a friend to talk to and ask questions about this intricate afterlife.  
“What was your life like? You know, before you died?” June asks instead.  
“Pretty much the same as the afterlife,” he starts, “I spent my time skating and getting busted by cops because skating the streets of Hollywood is fairly dangerous, according to them,” he chuckles, then points to his helmet, “Turns out they were right.” June lets out a light-hearted giggle.  
“You miss any of your friends you left behind? Or a girlfriend? Or boyfriend?” Willie looks down at his feet at this question. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…” she adds quickly, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.  
“No, it’s fine… Uhm… I didn’t have very many friends except for the people I saw at skate parks, but I didn’t really consider them friends… They were more like acquaintances, you know?” June nods her head understandingly. “But no boyfriends I left behind unless you count toxic ex-boyfriends?”  
“What does toxic mean? As in they’re poisonous?” she asks. It surprises Willie she doesn’t press further onto the ‘boyfriends’ thing. Normally, people would call him out on his queerness, tell him being gay is just a phase or a sin, or whatever.  
“Kind of, just not in the literal sense. It’s what you call people who aren’t doing anything good for your life. They could be manipulative or lie or… You know, not contribute to your life in a good way,” Willie explains at the best of his abilities. June tries to take it all up in her brain, making sure she’ll remember.  
“Where do you learn all this stuff?” June scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief.  
“Natasha is one of the dancers at the club, she died just about a year ago. She told me a lot of this stuff,” June nods her head, letting out a small ‘oh!’ before a chuckle. “It’s really interesting to talk to some of the ghosts at the club, you know? Everyone’s from a different time and age, and you can ask anyone anything!” June has no clue who Natasha is or anyone at the club. She’s been so focused on getting the routine right, though she doesn’t have to put in too much effort with Caleb’s magic, she hasn’t really talked to anyone yet. “So, yeah… That and people-spotting on Sunset Boulevard… Those are the best schools for the afterlife!”  
“I’ll remember that!” June chuckles and looks down at her feet.  
“Have you visited any of your relatives since you came back as a ghost?” Willie then queries.  
“Uhm, yeah… I did, the first night…” she replies, the flashbacks pooling into her mind. “I found out my parents still hold movie nights on Saturdays, like we always used to do when I was alive. They were even watching my favorite movie as if they knew I was there?” Willie laughs lightly at that, listening intently to every word June says. To him, it’s nice to have a friend for once. “And Reggie’s parents were still fighting in 1995, which makes me wonder if they’re still together, especially since Reg died…” she trails off as the next thought pops into her head. “I even found Reg that night… He was at the beach at our favorite spot we used to go to together. He was crying. I wish I could’ve hugged him that night, tell him everything was okay and maybe tell him to stay away from street dogs.” She chuckles amusedly whilst a tear rolls down her cheek. “Not that I knew that at that point, but you know…”  
“Yeah, I visited my parents once too. We never had a great bond when I grew up, mainly because they weren’t very okay with me being gay and everything…” Willie watches June’s face for any sign of reaction to his second coming out, but there was just nothing there. Just tenderness and empathy. “I still went and visited them, and I wanted to hug them and thank them for giving the love they did give me, you know?” June nods understandingly and offers him the kindest smile she could.  
“A friend of mine had the same experience with his parents. They never treated him the same after he told them he was gay.” There’s the reason for her understanding. “And then… You know he died…”  
“Ah! He was one of the boys in the band?” Willie asks for clarification.  
“Yes! He’s their drummer. Such a sweetheart too…” June basks in the memory of her and Alex. “A little anxious most of the time. But a total sweetheart. He was the only one in the band with a sister, so he knew how to interact and empathize with a girl. Which was great for me since Reggie never really had a clue on how to act around me when we first started dating.”  
“How are they holding up with the afterlife thing?” Willie then asks. “I’m sure it’s a big adaptation after twenty-five years at Limbo HQ.” June snickers at this, knowing how weird it was to be back as a ghost.  
“I’m not entirely sure. I kept an eye on them for a couple of days when they were brought back, and it was a rocky start at first, but I think they’re doing okay.”  
“Why don’t you go check up on them? Caleb doesn’t need you until late tonight?” Willie suggests.  
“Huh,” June says, thinking about it, “That’s not a bad idea, Willie.” The boy clicks his tongue, smirking cheekily.  
“Do I ever have bad ideas?” he asks amusedly.  
“Yeah, skating in traffic was a bad idea,” June replies teasingly. Willie’s smirk disappears and makes room for an eyeroll, his lips still tugging upwards in amusement. June is quickly becoming a really good friend. He’s going to face a lot of fun adventures with this one, he can tell. “All right, I’ll see you tonight at Caleb’s club, Will!” June bumps her fist against his shoulder, earning a wide smile from her new friend.  
“See you tonight, Ju.” She smiles at the nickname and then poofs out. Willie sighs deeply, contently. He really had to die to find a person like June who just got him and didn’t judge him for who he was. At least now he gets to spend an eternity with her by his side. 

June really has to concentrate but finds the boys at last. She has no clue where she’s landed, but it looks like a high school gym. Kids are gathered around a stage, cheering and dancing while music’s blaring through the speakers. June knows that sound.  
Completely enthralled by the sound, she freezes and watches her boyfriend, two friends and the copy-paste version of her friend Rose on the stage.  
“ _In times that I doubted myself  
I felt like I needed somе help  
Stuck in my head with nothing left  
I feel somеthing around me now  
So unclear, lifting me out  
I found the ground I'm marching on_”  
Reggie scoots across the stage and towards Luke, singing the pre-chorus along with him while sharing the mic. A Reggie-and-Luke thing June has always loved.  
“ _Life is a risk, but we will take it  
Close my eyes and jump  
Together, I think that we can make it  
C'mon let's run_”  
Julie’s voice reminds June of Rose’s. Warm, rich, powerful. It’s reminiscent of when June and Rose used to sing showtunes in Rose’s room that one week they’d spend together.  
“ _And rise through the night, you and I  
We will fight to shine together, bright forever  
And rise through the night, you and I  
We will fight to shine together, bright forever_”  
Julie now makes her way over to Luke when he starts singing the bridge, offering her microphone to him and leading him to the center of the stage with it. Something warm and fuzzy flashes through June’s body. It almost feels like she’s alive again. The same way she feels when dancing in Caleb’s show.  
“ _In times that I doubted myself  
I felt like I needed some help  
Stuck in my head with nothing left  
And when I feel lost and alone_”  
Her boyfriend winks at a girl in the crowd when he’s at the keyboard. She needs to remind herself that he doesn’t know she’s a ghost yet and that he hasn’t seen her in twenty-six years. This is fine.  
“ _I know that I can make it home  
Fight through the dark and find the spark_”  
June’s taken aback by the high note Julie hits flawlessly. At least it distracts her from her boyfriend flirting with another girl. Her eyes then widen slightly, realizing her boyfriend just winked at a lifer. Meaning the lifer can probably see them.  
“ _And rise through the night, you and I  
We will fight to shine together, bright forever  
And rise through the night, you and I  
We will fight to shine together, bright forever_”  
The crowd erupts into even louder cheers after Julie’s belted out her last high note. The band takes their bows before evaporating into air again. The cheers and applause quickly fade into confused gasps and exclamations. Julie chuckles awkwardly. One of her fellow students is pushed onto the stage by his friends.  
“Hey! Where did the rest of the band go?” He asks clumsily.  
“Wait, were those holograms?” The girl, Kayla, who received a wink from June’s boyfriend, asks with an overly excited grin on her face. Her best friend Carrie shoots her a sharp glare.  
“Yes! Yes, they were holograms!” Julie chuckles awkwardly. “Uhm… I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. I’d explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff…” The students erupt into a loud uproar of cheers. While they actively discuss the entire performance, June has her eyes on the three boys that have apparated next to the stage, watching everything post-show.  
“That’s wild! They could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended!” Luke says, looking at Julie who’s still on stage, being cheered on by the students.  
“Oh! We should double check!” Reggie suggests and hurries up the small flight of stairs, stopping at the very top and shaking his booty a couple of times with no reaction. Not from the students, at least. June, at the very back of the gym, chuckles. She’s endeared by her boyfriend’s antics. He hasn’t changed one bit since the last time they were together.  
“Yeah, I don’t…” he runs back down to his friends, “I don’t think they can see us,” he informs them. Luke gives him a questionable glance whilst Alex looks away in embarrassment.  
“I wish I couldn’t see you,” he says, much to Reggie’s disappointment.  
“OK, people. Show’s over!” Principal Lessa tells her students, clapping her hands. “Let’s get back to class, please.” The students start filing out of the gym in small groups, chatting on and on about the amazing show. June gets out of the way, so none of them have to walk through her. When she turns back to her friends and boyfriend, she wished she hadn’t. Reggie is talking to the girl he’d winked at, though she can’t see him. Her best friend is even telling her off for her comment about the holograms.  
“Hey there. Hi. Reggie.” He tries, but the girl has no clue someone other than the girl in the pink wig is talking to her. “Could I call you sometime? What’s your number?” His efforts are all for nothing. The girl just follows her best friend out of the gym, unaware of his attempts. When he looks up at the door to watch her walk away, he catches a glimpse of June. An upset, jealous June. He blinks his eyes a couple of times to make sure he’s not dreaming this, and when he thinks he’s certainly not dreaming anymore, she has already poofed out of the place.  
“I think I just saw June?” Reggie informs the boys, still confused about it himself.  
“June?” Luke asks, glancing at Alex for some support. “June’s dead, Reg…”  
“Yeah? So are we?” he fairly points out. “Might’ve been my imagination though. It probably wasn’t.” He drops his head in defeat. He so wishes it were her. June. His June. Luke wraps an arm around his shoulder comfortingly before poofing the both of them out, Alex following suit.  
“How epic was that show though, Reg?” Luke tries to take his buddy’s mind off his dead girlfriend. “We can actually play again! People can see us!” There’s the overly excited puppy in Luke coming up again.  
“Doesn’t it freak you guys out?” Alex asks them, his nerves getting the better of him.  
“Nah, man! We’ve been given a second chance!” says Luke.  
“Ooh! Maybe we could surprise Julie when she walks past!” Reggie suggests, having completely forgotten about seeing his girlfriend.  
“Yeah, yeah!” Luke agrees and grabs his two best friends by their shoulders. “Let’s get into pyramid formation! We’re her personal cheerleaders anyway!” Alex and Reggie squat down, so Luke can stand on their upper legs.  
“I think she’s coming!” Alex exclaims, and while holding Luke’s leg with one hand, stretches out the other.  
“Ju--!” They stop themselves before they can scream her name entirely. That’s not Julie. That’s the janitor. Another pair of footsteps approaches when the boys realize they’re way too far down the hallway, and poof forward. The footsteps grow closer until the curly-haired girl they’ve come to love turns the corner. “JULIE!” they all shout at the same time, at the right time.  
“AAAH!” she screams, startled, “You! Stop doing that! I’m serious.” she tells them off.  
“Whoa! This one’s on you!” Reggie holds his hands up in defense. “We were already here!” Julie waits before saying anything, knowing Reggie will lapse into a whole other explanation. “Well, actually we were over there, but then we came over here.” He explains with a lot of hand movements.  
“Are we not going to talk about what just happened?” Luke interrupts, still beaming like a kid.  
“Yeah. The whole school saw you. It’s kind of freaking me out,” Julie admits humbly.  
“OK, good, because it’s kind of freaking me out too!” Alex chimes in, his anxiety taking over. “You know, you could see us, and then people could see us whenever we play music. And my clothes are made of air, but for some reason, I’m still getting a wedgie,” Alex goes on a ramble with a tad too much info. Luke rubs his back in attempt to comfort him a little. Reggie and Julie give him a disgusted look. Then, Alex inhales sharply. “So many questions.”  
“The important thing is that we rocked that place!” Luke exclaims, back to his excited, passionate self. “They were loving you!” he says this to Julie.  
“Are you kidding? They loved us!” she argues with a smile that reaches her ears. “That was a great song, Luke. Thanks.” Luke gives her a proud smile. Proud of himself for knowing she’d be able to rock that Sunset Curve tune. Proud of her for nailing it so flawlessly with so little practice.  
“And did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me? I think they were looking at me,” Reggie interrupts, then turns to Luke and grabs his shoulders. “Please, tell me they were looking at me!” Luke cups the boy’s face, his excitement sprouting again. Julie chuckles at Reggie’s rambles.  
“Bro, they were looking at you!” Luke reassures the boy.  
“Oh, I knew it!” It comes out in a high-pitched noise, elation written all over his face.  
“I’m so… I’m so confused…” Alex makes all the excitement fade away again with his anxiety-filled thoughts. “The afterlife should come with instructions or a quick start guide or something.” The boys give him a sympathetic smile. They’ve learned there’s nothing you can do but let him rattle off his anxious thoughts and comfort him without saying much. Talking doesn’t help Alex at all.  
“Well, the good thing is that everyone thought you were holograms, and I got back into the program.” Julie glances down at her feet solemnly, remembering the discussion with Flynn that came after.  
“Why do you look so bummed?” Reggie asks.  
“Yeah, dude,” Luke grabs both his buddies and pulls them closer, “You’re making this face.” All three of them pout, imitating Julie’s face. Or at least, they think they’re imitating her face. Julie doesn’t agree.  
“Hmpf,” she presses her lips together, “That… is not my face.” Reggie lets out an ‘eh’ in disagreement, while Luke opts for “It’s your face”.  
“And things just got weird between me and Flynn. She asked about you guys and I couldn’t say.”  
“Sweet,” Reggie reacts, “Girls are already talking about us,” he whispers this to Luke before holding out his hand which his buddy hits in a low-five.  
“Stop. I’m serious!” Julie sounds annoyed now. “I can’t tell her about you guys for the same reason I can’t tell my dad. She’ll think I’ve gone off the deep end!” The boys turn at the sound of squeaky wheels behind them. Luke steps out of the way to let the janitor through. He’s giving Julie a weird glance.  
“This dude definitely thinks you’ve gone off the deep end,” Reggie says, pointing at the old man.  
The man and Julie make eye contact, and she offers him a sheepish grin.  
“Hmm,” Reggie hums delighted.  
“I got to get back to class,” Julie tells them and pushes between Luke and Reggie. They step aside a little as to not let her walk through them.  
“Later, Julie,” Reggie greets, “Oh! Tell those cheerleaders I’m single!” he shouts after her. It feels weird saying that. Technically speaking, Reggie is single. But in his heart, he’ll forever be June’s.  
“Oh, and that he’s dead!” Alex adds matter-of-factly. Reggie’s smile dissolves as he turns back quickly.  
“Oh no, no, no! Leave that part out! Leave that…” he cuts himself off when he realizes Julie’s already gone. “She’s gone…” Reggie sighs in defeat, but Luke doesn’t let any of that get in the way of his excitement as he whoops. They’re getting a second chance. Sunset Curve can play again. 

Much later that night, Willie finally poofs into the Hollywood Ghost Club. It’s long after June performed with Caleb and the other dancers for all the lifers’ entertainment. She even danced with a few rich fifty-somethings that kept grabbing her ass without her consent.  
“Finally, Will!” she gasps in relief when she sees her friend. “I thought you were going to come watch tonight?!” Willie has a goofy grin on his face as he leans against the railing of the balcony that looks out onto the party.  
“Sorry, Ju. Something came up…” June raises an eyebrow at him as a smirk tugs at one side of her mouth. She rests her elbow onto the railing, watching the goofy grin spread even further across his face.  
“You met someone,” she points out. Willie scoffs, getting up again.  
“What?! No! Why do you think that?” He can’t hide the grin at all. It’s like whoever he met tonight, the thought of that person haunting his mind like a ghost has all the reigns over his muscles.  
“The goofy grin you can’t seem to hide, and how giddy you are.”  
“OK, fine. I met another ghost friend!” he gives in. “His name is Alex and he’s the cutest boy I ever did see. He’s a little tightly wired, but really sweet and really handsome.” June’s eyes widen at the mention of the name. Alex. Her Alex? Her best friend Alex?  
“W-Where did you meet?” she asks, trying to hide the fact she possibly knows this cute boy of his.  
“On Sunset Boulevard! I totally pancaked him while skating!” he laughs whole-heartedly. “He said he was having a minor afterlife crisis and I helped him with some questions he had about the afterlife.” A walk on Sunset Boulevard after a minor crisis does sound like Alex.  
“Did he tell you how he died?” she asks.  
“Yeah, weirdly, he ate a bad hotdog, just like those friends of yours!” June gives him a knowing look, to which his eyes grow in realization. “You don’t think…?”  
“It does sound like my Alex…” June sighs. Willie doesn’t really know what to say. He’d just met one of June’s friends without even realizing. “Just be careful with him, okay?” Willie nods his head.  
“I promise,” he says.


	5. Drumming Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to 1993. A glimpse at the life of June and her boys before death. They're at a Sunset Curve band practice when everyone is called home except Alex and June. So, with permission of Bobby and his mother, the two of them hang out for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of this is mine except for the song and the characters exept for June Fray and Bobby's mother.
> 
> Warning: mention of unsupportive parents and sad Alex
> 
> Thanks for reading! I appreciate every single one of you.

# 1993, Los Feliz

Reggie is waiting at June’s locker after their last class. It’s band rehearsal and dance rehearsal all in one night, and the couple have found the perfect solution for spending time together amidst their busy schedules. June goes to band practice with Reggie first, hanging out with the boys and listening to them play while spending time with Reggie during breaks. Then, June would go straight to dance practice from Bobby’s garage. Sometimes, Reggie would even go pick her up from dance class, but only when his parents were fighting again.  
“Hey, gorgeous,” Reggie greets cheekily when she approaches him with a smile plastered on her face.  
“Hi, baby,” she says and kisses him on the lips before opening her locker to take out the book she’ll need to study tonight. She has a test tomorrow, so band practice will be spend studying today. “Hey, did I leave my history book at your place last night?” she asks upon not finding it in her locker.  
“Mmh, probably?” Reggie responds whilst snaking his arms around her waist from behind.  
“Reg, I need that to study for a test tomorrow. Can you get it for me when I’m at dance class?” her voice sounds annoyed, but her smile tells a different story. She always loved how clingy Reggie is around her. He never shies away from any sort of public display of affection.  
“Anything for you, Princess,” he says amusedly and pecks her cheek.  
“I’m serious, Reg. I really need to ace this test or else my parents are going to take away at least three hours of dance class!” she giggles a little whilst trying to keep a serious façade. Reggie lets go of his girl and steps aside to give her some space.  
“I know. I promise I’ll get you your textbook after band practice.” June shuts her locker and tucks the other books in her backpack, nudging it back over her shoulder. There’s a worried pout on her face Reggie doesn’t like seeing on his girlfriend. “Relax, baby. I know how important dance classes are for you, I’m not going to screw this up, OK?” She takes a deep breath and nods her head. This makes Reggie smile right before he leans down and presses a kiss to her lips.  
“Get a room!” The voices of Luke and Maya resound in the hallway, making them break away in giggles. The couple looks up to find all their friends heading their way with teasing smiles on their faces.  
“Let’s dip, you guys. I only have an hour before mom wants me home,” Luke informs, and then everyone follows him out of school and towards Bobby’s garage, which is only a few miles from the school.  
While the boys start setting up their instruments, June takes her spot on the couch, and gets out the textbooks she needs for another test tomorrow.  
“Hey, June,” Bobby captures her attention, “Could you move the table a little closer to you?” She tucks her legs underneath her and pulls at the table until it’s against the couch instead, offering the boys a little more space.  
“What song do you want us to play first, Junie?” Luke queries with a smile. He probably doesn’t know where to begin himself, so he asks for some help with the crowd. June mulls it over for a bit, thinking over every single Sunset Curve song she’s ever heard.  
“ _Long Weekend_?” she asks herself aloud, “Ooh! No! _Now or Never_!” The boys turn to their instruments, but then June yells out one more song, “Oh no! _Get lost_!” Reggie chuckles at the adorableness of his girlfriend, awaiting her very last answer. He knows it’s coming. “First _Long Weekend_ , then _Get Lost_ , then _Now or Never_!” Alex raises his eyebrows at the girl, an amused grin on his face. “What?! Those are all my favorites; you can’t make me decide!” All four the boys snicker before Alex counts them in to start _Long Weekend_ , just as June ordered.  
There’s not a lot of studying done that night. She can withhold herself from dancing and singing along for about one verse and a chorus, but after that, it’s all ruined. First, her head starts to bop along, then she starts drumming her pencil onto her backs, and finally, she gives in and sings along with the boys. During the bridge in _Now or Never_ , she gets up on the couch, using her pencil as a microphone while she sings along with Alex. Reggie’s so distracted by his dancing and singing girlfriend, he forgets to play a couple of chords. Noticing this, June jumps across the coffee table and towards Reggie where she takes his place behind the microphone.  
“ _We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain!_ ” She sings instead of him, and then pecks his lips before stepping away from the microphone to let him continue. The boys clap their hands to the beat, leaving their instruments for what they are and letting the clapping lead them through the first part of the chorus. June gets back to the couch after her outburst to get back to her attempt to study.  
“I think we have a replacement for when we want to kick Reggie out of the band,” Bobby jokes when they’re done with the song. June chuckles, and glances at Reggie, who doesn’t think it’s that funny.  
“When you want to kick me out of the band?” he questions disapprovingly. June’s lip turns into a pout as she gets up again to join him by his side. “You should be lucky you have a bass player.”  
“And a super talented one at that,” June adds and pecks his cheek again. That makes the bassist smile again. “Though you might work on your concentration a little, baby. There’s going to be a lot of girls on the front row begging for your attention.” She snakes her arms around his waist, under his bass.  
“But none as beautiful as you,” he charmingly adds, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.  
“Reggie,” a new voice sounds from the garage door. The boys and June turn around to find Bobby’s mother standing there with a small smile on her face. “Your mom called. She wants you home to watch Archie.” A big sigh leaves the boy’s body, taking his girlfriend with him.  
“Thanks, misses Wilson,” Reggie offers her a smile. June lets go of her boyfriend, so he can take his bass off his shoulder and place it on its stand. She goes to sit on the couch along with Alex and Luke.  
“Bobby, dinner’s ready,” she tells her own son. Bobby glances at the three on the couch, knowing they want to stay a little longer.  
“Can they hang out in the garage a little longer?” he asks her, pointing to the three smiling idiots.  
“Yeah, of course! Stay as long as you want,” she offers the warmest smile they’d ever seen.  
“Thanks, misses Wilson!” Alex and June say in unison with smiles plastered on their faces that reach their ears.  
Bobby’s mother leaves the garage with Bobby in tow as Reggie turns around to face the three buffoons. He leans down and kisses his girlfriend on the lips. When he straightens up again, he finds his two best friends puckering up as if they want a kiss from their best friend too.  
“I don’t have enough kisses left in me, sorry guys,” he replies cheekily and turns to leave. “Kiss each other instead!” Luke and Alex glance at each other, almost as if thinking about it, but then shaking their heads instead.  
“I’m going to get going too, guys,” Luke says as he gets up and straightens his jacket. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” He gives the two a wave and after they’ve said their goodbyes, he disappears too.  
“What do you want to do now, Junie-Balloony?” June chuckles at the nickname Alex has for her. She’ll never get used to that one.  
She glances around the room for a moment until her eyes land on Alex’s drumkit. A smug smile tugs at her lips then. She knows exactly what she wants to do now.  
“Can you teach me how to play drums?” she asks him, turning to face him. He raises a questioning eyebrow at her, his mouth curling up. “Reggie taught me bass. I want to make sure I cover every instrument before I die.” Alex chuckles, shaking his head in disbelieve before getting up from the couch and hopping across the table towards his drums. June quickly follows him and takes the drumsticks he’s offering her. As she sits down on the stool, he leans over her shoulder to explain every single one of the toms on his drumkit. June can smell Alex’s mints he’s consumed today, along with the laundry detergent his mother uses on his clothes. Spearmint mixed with lavender. A fresh, pleasant scent.  
About half an hour later, June’s thumping an easy beat out of the drums. Alex smiles down at her proudly.  
“Yes, girl!” he yells excitedly, followed by a laugh. “You’re a natural!” June hits both cymbals once more before stopping completely.  
“This is fun!” she exclaims excitedly. “Now I get why you chose the drums.” Alex steps back, so June can get up from the stool.  
“Oh, I didn’t choose the drums, Junie-Balloony, the drums chose me.” June raises her eyebrows at him all ‘really, Alex? Really?’ and then makes her way back to the sofa while twirling the drumsticks around in her hand. “Yeah, that sounded lame,” Alex agrees, following her to the couch. Both of them plop down with a sigh, their heads resting against the back. June turns her head to look at him, Alex doing the exact same at the exact same moment.  
“Thanks for teaching me, Lex,” June whispers.  
“You’re welcome, Junie,” he whispers back. The both of them chuckle at their own weirdness and turn their heads back to the ceiling, falling silent. It’s a comfortable silence that lays over them like a fuzzy blanket. June always loved spending one-on-one time with Alex. She always felt so comfortable around him. It’s not the same with Luke or Bobby. If she spends time with Luke, they’re both bouncing off the walls with energy, belting songs at the top of their lungs. Time with Bobby is very rare. They only ever see each other during band practices or in science class where they’re lab partners.  
“Hey,” June then goes after a few heartbeats of silence. Alex turns his head at her again. “Are your parents being cold again?” He sighs, staring at the ceiling again.  
“As if they ever stopped,” he scoffs, “I just don’t get it, you know? They brought me into this life and loved me unconditionally. They fed me, they put clothes on my back, they hugged me and gave me so much love. Then all that changes because I’m coming out for who I am? Who I’ve always been? How does that make any sense, Junie?” June clicks her tongue, shaking her head at Alex’s parents.  
“It doesn’t make sense, Alex,” she attempts to reassure him, “I mean, I get they’re religious and everything, but so am I and so are my parents… I know the Bible tells you it’s a sin, but the Bible also tells you “To love not hate. So, who’s really sinning now?” Alex snickers at that. His teary eyes transform to hopeful eyes. The twinkly kind that just make you want to wrap your arms around him and hug him.  
“How are you such a cool chick?” He places his head onto June’s shoulder, and shuts his eyes.  
“Eh, you bring out the best in me,” she shrugs, which causes Alex’s head to bounce along. He turns his head slightly to look up at her, but still stay in the same position.  
“We bring out the best in each other,” he adds. June lifts her hand and combs her fingers through his hair before resting her head on top of his. “I love you, Junie-Balloony,” he whispers. A content smile plays at his lips.  
“I love you too, Lex,” she whispers back. They stay like that for a while, cuddled up on the sofa, basking in each other’s presence until Bobby walks back into the garage. His eyes meet June’s, and his expression changes to a confused one.  
“Didn’t you have dance class?” he asks, tilting his head. June’s eyes widen before glancing down to her watch. She’s half an hour late. Cursing under her breath, she gathers all of her things, stuffing it all in her backpack, and then getting up.  
“See you, kids!” she hurriedly runs out of the garage, leaving the two boys alone.  
“A special one, that one,” Bobby chuckles, pointing to the door where June had just left through in a hurry. Alex lets out a snicker at Bobby’s comment, agreeing silently. “Are you okay, bro?”  
“Yeah,” he whispers, a smile tugging at his lips at the thought of what made him okay again. His best friend. His Junie-Balloony. “Yeah, I’m okay.”


	6. Haunted House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where the boys find out about Trevor Wilson and go to his house to 'haunt' him. June meets other dancers from the Hollywood Ghost Club and finds out Caleb Covington is in fact the intimidating and scary person June thought he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, the scenes you see in the show that I've put in here aren't mine. Full credit for that goes to Kenny Ortega and his team. 
> 
> Warnings: Caleb Covington is a meanie? 
> 
> Thanks for reading, y'all!

# 2020, Los Feliz

“Remind us later, we have some Sunset Curve songs we want to show you,” Luke says during rehearsals in Julie’s studio. The girl pushes her microphone out of the way, beaming with interest.  
“Ooh, show me now!” She wiggles her eyebrows. Luke stammers an “OK”, before grabbing his journal from his backpack. A loose sheet of paper sticks out from it.  
“ _Home is Where My Horse is…_ ” he reads aloud, “Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal.” He takes the paper out and turns to Julie again.  
“That was a gift!” Reggie tells him, a little offended. “Maybe if we could circle back to—” but Luke is already talking to Julie about the dog-eared pages being perfect for her. “OK…” Reggie mumbles, a little hurt by the rejection of his country song. Again.  
“Ooh, who’s Emily?” Julie asks in a teasing tone after having flicked through a couple of songs.  
“That one’s not dog-eared!” Luke tries to snatch the journal from Julie’s hands, but Julie turns it away from him, giving him a sharp glare.  
“If you could only know, I’d never let you go…” she reads one of the lyrics, “Wow, Luke, I didn’t know you were such a romantic!” she teases. Alex joins Luke’s side now with a smile on his face.  
“He’s not, that actually about—”  
“No one,” Luke cuts him off, giving his friend a knowing glare. “That’s just something I tried. But if you go to the next dog-eared page, it has a killer beat.” He turns around and taps one of the peddles before starting to play a sick guitar riff.  
“Oh, you want to sample?” Julie asks. Luke stops playing, looking up at his alive friend, confused.  
“Sample?” he shoots the question back.  
“Sample someone else’s music,” the boys all look at Julie as if she’s talking Chinese. “My mom and I used to sing that song at the top of our lungs in the car all the time. It’s a classic Trevor Wilson song.”  
“Nope,” Luke says and takes his journal back from where Julie placed in on the keyboard. “It’s a classic our song,” he motions the book towards them.  
“Pure Sunset Curve,” Reggie chimes in, “I’ve never even heard of Trevor Wilson.”  
“Yeah, maybe you’re mixing it up, you know, with another song,” Alex tries to reason. Julie has none of it though. She raises her eyebrows at the boys in front of her.  
“I don’t mix up songs. Trust me. Me and his daughter used to be best friends. I used to hang out at their place all the time. I know that song.” Alex glances at Luke, muttering an “OK”, but giving Luke an “If she says so…” look. “Here,” she reaches for her laptop and places it on the keyboard, opening it up to Google Trevor Wilson. “I’ll prove it.” The boys watch her as she taps and clicks away until she turns the computer around, showing Trevor Wilson’s face on his site. “His first albums had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff is as good,” she explains to them. The boys lean in to get a better look at the picture. Alex punches Reggie’s shoulder when he realizes.  
“That’s Bobby!” Luke says in disbelief.  
“Seriously? I just told you his name is Trevor,” Julie reasons.  
“OK, then he changed it, all right? That’s definitely Bobby! He was our rhythm guitarist,” Alex chimes in, pointing ferociously at the screen. Julie chuckles at this.  
“Trevor Wilson was in your band?” she asks, not believing a word what they’re saying. They’re mixing up a famous musician with an old buddy of theirs.  
“I can’t get over how old he looks,” Reggie says, glaring at Bobby-slash-Trevor on the screen.  
Alex groans, “He looks like a substitute teacher.” Luke shakes his head while his eyebrows knit together.  
“Julie,” he captures the girl’s attention, “What were his other hits?”  
“ _Get lost_ ,” Julie answers. Luke swallows a lump in his throat in disappointment and takes his guitar off, placing it back on its stand.  
“Yeah, I wrote that.” He walks over to the darts board in a fury.  
“ _Long Weekend_?” Julie sums up another one.  
“Yeah! Luke wrote that one too!” Reggie replies this time.  
“ _Crooked Teeth_?” she tries again.  
“And that!” Alex goes, “It’s about Reggie.”  
“What?” the boy next to him exclaims in disbelief, “I thought it was about you!” He says this to Alex. Luke reaches for the darts on the board. He can’t listen to any of this anymore. “I don’t like that song anymore.” He turns around angrily and pouty and goes to sit on the stool he was sitting on before.  
“Wait… This is freaking me out,” Julie says in a panic, trying to connect the dots. “Trevor’s songs are kind of big to me. He’s the one who introduced me to rock.”  
“Yeah, Luke introduced you to rock,” Alex says, pointing at Luke before turning around and sitting down on the floor before his drumkit. Luke throws a dart in anger, trying to have an outlet for all the emotions surging through his body.  
“So, this whole time, I thought you were connected to my mom. But instead you’re connected to Carrie’s dad?” Reggie shakes his head in bafflement. “Out of all people it had to be the one girl who had it out for me.”  
“Yeah, well… Add it to our list of questions,” Alex retorts with a sigh. All while Luke’s throwing his anger out in the darts.  
“Back when Carrie and were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time. He never mentioned you guys,” she tells them solemnly. Not only at the sad memory, but the fact she didn’t know about this important part of the man’s life. Especially now that that part’s become part of her life too.  
“And that’s unbelievable!” Luke throws one more dart before turning to Julie and the boys again. “H-he can take all the credit and he doesn’t even mention us.” Reggie chuckles unamused.  
“And he’s rich…” Julie adds. “He has his own helicopter.” She bows over her computer to click on the photo on the site with the helicopter to show while Luke groans and throws another dart. This one lands in the wood underneath the board.  
The three boys gather around the laptop again to see what their so-called-friend has done since they died so many years ago.  
“He has his own helicopter?” Alex asks.  
“With his own face on it,” Julie reveals, a little frustrated too.  
“And he gets to park it in front of that hotel?” Reggie asks, pointing at the giant building the helicopter is on in the picture. Julie sighs deeply, not sure how to break the news on that one.  
“He gets to park it in front of his mansion,” she blurts out anyway. There’s no way around this. Literally, the entire place is secured by a security gate. It’s built like a freaking fort.  
“Mansion?!” Reggie shrieks out, while Alex turns to Luke.  
“Dude, we live in a garage,” the blondie tells his best friend as if he doesn’t know.  
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the music!” Luke raises his voice. The anger is swelling up inside of him. Soon enough, he’ll burst. He’s like a ticking timebomb that’ll explode any minute now.  
“It’s a little bit about the money though!” Reggie reasons, still baffled at all of this overwhelming news.  
“A little bit about the money,” Alex’s voice is high-pitched again as he gestures the ‘little bit’ with his hands. Luke just stares at Julie’s laptop screen.  
“We could’ve shared it with our families!” Reggie argues pointedly, “Maybe then my parents wouldn’t have their house turned into a bike shack!” Alex pats Reggie’s chest with the back of his hand in agreement. Luke inhales sharply, turning to his friends.  
“What he did is steal our legacy.” He gives Reggie a knowing look, which is enough for Reggie to understand, though he’s still upset about it. Understandingly. The boy crosses his arms and turns away from Luke and Alex. Luke, however, turns back to Julie. “Where does he live?” he asks her.  
“Above the beach in Malibu,” she answers with a sigh. Luke bumps his shoulder into Alex’s and grabs his jacket from the armchair he’d left it on.  
“Let’s go teach him a lesson,” Reggie says. Julie’s eyes widen as she gets up from her stool.  
“Wait, what? Guys! We have to rehearse for the dance! This is our first gig!” The boys don’t listen to her, and instead, angrily poof out of the garage and into Bobby’s house.  
They have a mosey around the immense mansion, looking at all the platinum records and awards he has hanging around as decoration in his living room.  
“Bobby’s house is ridiculous!” Alex exclaims, walking through the corridor to the living room where the others are. “Have you seen these platinum records?” He gestures to the wall filled with the frames.  
“Platinum?” Reggie asks in shock, turning around. Luke is bend over to read another of his award frames. He scoffs, straightening up again.  
“He recorded my name is Luke,” he says, “My name is Luke!” He aggressively points to himself. The door opens at this point, and Trevor Wilson walks in, clad in jeans, a tank top and a suede jacket. All while wearing sunglasses.  
“It’s him!” Reggie exclaims, and the others gather around him as Trevor runs up to the stairs.  
“Hey, Carrie! I’m going to meditate!” he yells at his daughter who’s probably somewhere in the house.  
“He wears sunglasses indoors!” Reggie points out. The three of them are standing right in front of him.  
“I’m in the den!” the soft voice of Carrie carries just far enough for her father to hear.  
“Cool!” he shouts back and rushes up the stairs.  
“I can’t stand him,” Reggie says to Luke.  
“Time for his past to haunt him,” Luke grumbles and starts making his way up the stairs.  
“Yep!” Reggie agrees, following suit.  
“Wait!” Alex yells, making the two boys stop in their tracks, confused about the sudden change of mind. “Let’s not rush this. You know, it’s my first time haunting someone.” He exhales slowly, a content smile playing at his lips. “I want to make it special.” He places his hands on his hips. The two boys look at him as though he’s said something extremely offensive or controversial.  
“OK, Alex,” Luke mutters and resumes his walk up the stairs, Reggie in tow.  
“That was weird. OK…” he admits to himself before running up the stairs too. He finds the boys in a funny smelling room. It smells of incents and weird herbs, and candles are burning everywhere. Trevor is standing at the record player, turning it on to some strange relaxation music. The boys watch their old friend as he goes to sit on a large, with suede cushioned footstool in a lotus position, placing his hands on his knees. Reggie always thought only people meditating in cartoons only said “ohm”, but apparently, people do that in real life too.  
“Watch this,” Luke whispers and wets his finger before poking Trevor’s earhole with it.  
“Ew!” he groans out in disgust, rubbing his ear. He exhales slowly and goes back to his ‘ohm’s.  
“Let’s blow the candles out!” Alex giggles and blows the one closest to him out, Luke and Reggie doing the same with the others. Trevor stares at the candles, confused and dazed.  
“Now this!” Reggie adds and turns the record player on a Trevor Wilson song that was originally Luke’s. Trevor’s head snaps towards the record player, wondering how in the holy hell that would turn on by itself. He gets up and turns it off. “Oh, no, no, no, man.” The second Trevor turns around, Reggie turns it on again. Trevor turns around in annoyance and now pulls the plug.  
The boys giggle, and Luke pushes Alex’s shoulder to hurry towards the bathroom. Luke turns the shower on full heat. The mirror slowly condenses. Alex suddenly has an idea, but waits until Trevor’s made it in here and turned off the shower.  
“Ooh! Watch!” Alex says giddily and starts writing on the mirror.  
“Look at his face!” Reggie giggles as he watches Trevor’s eyes widen at the words ‘Hello Bobby’.  
“Now! Let’s go!” Luke yells loudly, and the three boys poof out of the bathroom. Alex pushes against the door to keep Trevor from coming out. While their old ‘friend’ groans and pushes at the door frantically, Luke and Reggie are giggling messes at the other side.  
“Let… me … out!” Trevor yells desperately. Alex jumps aside, Luke catching him, so he doesn’t fall over, as Trevor finally gets the door open. He looks around, bewildered, scared.  
“Whoo!” Reggie exclaims. Without watching, Luke holds out his hands and the boys hit them in a low five, then switching positions. They’re so in sync, they don’t even need to see what they’re doing to know what they’re doing.  
At the sound of a helicopter starting up, they decide to poof themselves outside where Trevor leaves in his own form of transportation with the boys watching from below.  
“Ooh! Quick! Let’s moon him,” Reggie suggests, reaching for the button of his jeans.  
“He can’t see us, bro?” Alex interjects.  
“Bro, this isn’t for him. It’s for us.” Luke reaches for his jeans too, and the three pull their pants down. If June were here, Reggie thinks, she’d die laughing. He knows she would. He hasn’t stopped thinking about her since he saw her at school the other day. Or at least, he thinks he saw her. It had to have been her. No one else would look at him that way for flirting with girls. No one else still wears plaid dresses with white long-sleeved shirts and knee-high socks paired with biker boots. Or not that he knows. He’s seen a couple of people wearing the same things he does, but her style… It’s June.  
“Were you guys having fun in there?” Julie asks when she’s walked outside just as they’re pulling up their pants again.  
“OK, you’d do the exact same if he stole all your songs!” Luke argues.  
“But you have new songs. With me,” Julie points out. The boys stare at her. She has a point. “The best way to get back at Trevor is for this band to do great. And to do great, we have to play at dances, then clubs.” Luke steps forward.  
“And tours, I know.”  
“I’ll see you guys at the school,” Julie sighs, “We go on at nine. Please, don’t be late. There’s going to be a lot of people there.” She looks at Alex and Reggie, then at Luke, giving each of them a stern look.  
“We got it, all right? Don’t worry,” Alex reassures her. Julie sighs again and then turns around to go back inside Carrie’s house. Luke turns back to the boys.  
“I don’t care what Julie says. I’m glad we scared Bobby,” Reggie says, “We should’ve done more, like… written ‘thief’ on his forehead.” He has the proudest smile on his face for that idea. The other two smile too, more at how ‘Reggie’ that idea was than at the idea itself.  
“And Alex, how did you shut that door? You could barely open the garage door earlier?” Luke asks.  
“Learned that from Willie, didn’t you?” Reggie queries with a smug smirk on his face.  
“Yeah. Well, he taught me some things and we screamed in a museum,” he explains dreamily. Luke and Reggie glance at each other, wondering what that has to do with anything. “It’s a long story.”  
“You think he has a few more tricks up his sleeve?” Luke wants to know. Alex shrugs.  
“Let’s find out.” 

June goes to the Hollywood Ghost Club when she can’t find Willie anywhere. The second she poofs in there, she’s back in her yellow dance outfit. It still startles her whenever that happens. Caleb really is a very powerful magician. And ghost.  
“Oh, hey! Natasha, right?” she asks a woman who only looks about mid-twenty. She’s wearing a pink glittery number with a lot more skin on show than June, a feather boa scarf draped over her shoulders, and a headpiece with a feather sticking out.  
“Uhm yes! Yes, that’s me!” Natasha replies with a smile, “You’re the new talent, right?”  
“Yeah! I am. June!” she introduces herself and reaches her hand for Natasha to shake, which she does. “Have you seen Willie anywhere?” she then asks, which is part of the reason she came here.  
“No, haven’t seen him since last night,” Natasha replies. “He’s probably out skateboarding or hanging out with that new boyfriend of his.” June jumps at the mention of Willie’s ‘boyfriend’. She didn’t expect anyone here to know about Alex yet.  
“Right… Yeah, probably…” June trails off a little, fidgeting with the fringes on her dress. Natasha watches the girl become more and more nervous for some reason, which is something Caleb doesn’t allow at the club. At all. And Natasha knows what he’s capable of.  
“Hey! Have you met the other dancers yet?” Natasha snakes her arm over June’s shoulders and guides her towards the huddle of dancers; all dressed similarly. “June, meet Alison and Veronica. Caleb’s favorite twins.” The girls are wearing blue glittery dresses with big trails of feathers stuck to the back of their dress. Alison and Veronica offer June a polite and welcoming smile, and a wave of their long, slender fingers. June returns the gesture before Natasha turns her to a couple of others. “Dante, Rachel and Frances.” She points at a guy in a suit with a pink blazer first, then to the girl in the red dress, then the one in orange. “You’ll meet the others too, but they’re out haunting or something.” Natasha laughs at her own joke, the other dancers joining in. All except for June.  
“You’re new, aren’t you?” Veronica asks, narrowing her eyes at the new girl as if scanning her.  
“Yes, to pretty much everything,” June chuckles, “I died in 1994, but when I found out my boyfriend and best friends died in 1995, I spent a good twenty-five years trying to find them, without any luck. So, I missed out on a lot of ghost years.” Her co-dancers all snicker at this.  
“Thankfully, we all have an eternity!” Frances chimes in with a smile. “Now, tell us about this boyfriend of yours. Is he cute?” She grabs June’s arm and pulls her down on a chair, taking a seat herself on another. The twins, Rachel, Dante, and Natasha take a seat too. All seemingly interested in this boy June spent a quarter century mourning over instead of partying.  
“The cutest. He was my biggest supporter, my rock, my light in dark days. He always told me what I wanted to hear and taught me so many things. Not just what it’s like to love and be loved, but he taught me the meaning of friendship and loyalty and how to communicate and convey feelings. That was something neither of us were very good at, but I think we learned it together along the way. He also taught me to play bass since he’s a bassist in a band. They all died, actually, the band members, except for one. They ate bad hotdogs.” June glances to her new ghost friends, all of them staring at her dreamily.  
“Have you found him yet?” Alison then questions.  
“Yeah… But I haven’t talked to him yet. I want to give him time to get used to this afterlife thing. He’s only been a ghost for like a week. If that.” A rush of sadness flows through June. She needs to talk about something else other than Reggie. All it does is remind her of seeing him flirt with other girls, and about how she’s unable to hug him or even talk to him. “So… What’s this Caleb’s deal?” She changes the subject quickly, which changes the atmosphere in the group simultaneously.  
“I wouldn’t get on his bad side, if I were you,” says Dante, and it almost sounds like a warning.  
“Don’t get us wrong, it’s so much fun to be in his crew and dance for eternity…” Natasha goes on, trailing off at the end, suggesting a ‘but’. When that one doesn’t follow, June has no other option than ask.  
“But?” she says.  
“But once you’re on his bad side, you never come back,” Natasha’s voice is raised just above a whisper.  
“What do you mean, you never come back?” June wants to know, not liking the mystery one bit.  
“You cease to exist. You’re really dead, dead. You don’t exist anywhere,” Rachel tells her, hushed.  
“Yeah, Caleb has this stamp-thing, a mark with a curse attached. He’ll burn it onto your skin when you’ve crossed him, or he needs you for his own benefit and you don’t say ‘yes’ straight away. You’ll have no other choice but come back and do what he says,” Frances explains. June isn’t sure if she believes anything they’re saying. It all sounds fake and so unthinkable. Like a child telling you about seeing dinosaurs and UFO’s. But the looks on their faces give June no choice but to believe it.  
“Would I be able to quit his dance crew if I wanted to?” June asks, just to be sure. The dancers exchange glances, as if wondering if they should tell the new girl.  
“No,” Natasha answers. “By agreeing to join his crew, you agreed for him to own your soul. There’s no other place you can go to. You’ll always be brought back here to play the show and he’ll find you, no matter where you go. So, hiding isn’t an option either.”  
“Believe me, some of us have tried,” says Dante, solemnly as if mourning a loss of one of their own.  
“That’s some club you’ve got going on here…” June mumbles. She stepped into that herself. All she has to do, is make sure the boys don’t. 

“Hey, Caleb,” June hears Willie’s voice echo through the almost empty space. She looks up to find Willie and Caleb talking on the top floor of the room. “Would it be okay if I brought some ghost friends to the club tomorrow night? They could use your help with something…” June’s eyes widen at this. He’s not… He wouldn’t… Would he? “They’re these ghost musicians and when they play music with this lifer girl, they become visible to other lifers.” June curses under her breath. Willie actually would.  
“Oh, yeah! Of course, William. How many friends would you bring? I’ll make sure to reserve a table.”  
“Three.”  
“Consider it done.”  
June waits five more seconds before poofing up to Willie, glaring at him sharply as she appears in front of him. Willie needs a good second before he’s composed himself from the startle.  
“You’re seriously going to bring those three boys in here? You’re going to bring my friends here? Here?” Willie holds his hands up in defense. Angry June is the scariest person he’s ever seen.  
“Relax, June. Nothing’s going to happen to them!” June raises her eyebrows at him. “I promise you!”  
“I swear to God, Will, if something happens to them, I will kill you!” she snarls.  
“How are you going to do that if I’m already dead, huh?” June’s stumped by that answer. It slipped her mind for a moment. It’s the one empty threat she always used on the boys, which always helped. They were scared of Angry June. Nothing scared them more.  
It takes her a while before she answers, “I’ll ask Caleb to give you the stamp-thing.” Willie’s eyes widen at that. “Oh, yeah, I know about the stamp!” She growls at him before walking away again, proud of her empty-threat that might not be so empty after all. Then, she really realizes Willie is going to bring her boys to the club, meaning she’s going to see them. She’s actually going to see them. After twenty-five years.


	7. June and Reggie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1992, the day Reggie and June first spoke and spent time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used in this chapter is "Alone" by Heart, but I listened to/imagined the Glee Cast version since they did it as a duet. Credits for the song goes to whoever owns the rights. Heart? Someone else? Not sure. It's not mine :) I don't own Reggie's character either, that's Kenny Ortega's. 
> 
> Everything else in this chapter is mine and from my imagination. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)

# 1992, Malibu

“Alright, guys! Let’s take it from the top!” Carolynn yells at her dancers. “Remember to pause here,” she shows the part of the choreography where everyone forgot to accentuate the move. “I really need that accent on the head!” All twenty of the dancers nod their head, some of them mirroring Carolynn’s move as to not forget again. Carolynn then turns the music on again, and all dancers start from the top. June’s dancing at the front with Maya next to her, but she’s distracted by the boy looking through the window. She can see him through the mirror. He looks lost. Almost sad. It makes June wonder how he’d ended up here.  
“Juniper, pay attention!” Caro shouts, making June jump a little. She tries to focus again, but the boy is constantly watching her. She can feel him watching her. “Do you need me to give your spot to someone else? Focus, June!” June’s eyes dart from the boy to her own reflection in the mirror. Focus.  
After dance class, when everyone has filed out of the studio except for Carolynn and June, the boy walks into the studio, waiting for the two girls to finish their conversation.  
“Hey,” the boy greets nervously when June turns around to walk away from her dance teacher. She recognizes the boy. He sits somewhere behind her during math. But besides then, she’s never really paid much attention to him, no matter how cute he is. “I hope I didn’t distract you too much…”  
“Oh, no… It’s not you. It’s, uhm…” she trails off, trying to find the right excuse. “Just not my day.”  
“Oh, okay…” The boy looks down at his feet, his confidence and courage all sinking into his shoes.  
“Hey, are you okay? You seem kind of out of it?” He meets her eyes then, and his brain starts going into overdrive. Should he tell her straight away? Should he come up with a lie? Why is she so pretty?  
“Uhm, yeah… No… I just—wondering how I wound up here,” he chuckles awkwardly. “I just needed to get out of the house, so I started walking down the boardwalk and somehow ended up here…”  
“You had a fight with your parents, or?” June asks. Carolynn passes the two, bidding her goodbyes to June, and then leaving the two of them alone in the empty studio.  
“Wha—I… Uhm… No, my parents were fighting with each other…” he stumbles and stutters, and though sadness is written all over his face, June still finds it quite endearing. “Again…” The boy bites his lip nervously. He has no clue why he’s babbling like this. Something in her eyes tells him to do so.  
“They fight a lot, huh?” He nods his head, eyes casting down to the floor again. “Want to go for a walk on the beach with me?” His head snaps back up to see if she’s being serious. “You can talk about it all? Or not at all? Totally your choice. But I think we could both do with some fresh air.”  
“Y-yeah… Sure, why not?” He turns on his heel and falls into step with June as they make their way out of the studio. “I’m Reggie, by the way, Reggie Peters,” he introduces himself.  
“June Fray,” she says. And with one look at each other, they know this wasn’t just going to be one walk on the beach. “You’re in my math’s class, aren’t you?” She asks when they’ve set foot on the beach. The sand gives out underneath their feet while the warm breeze messes up their hair.  
“That’s where I know you from!” he exclaims in relief. “I was thinking about it when I saw you dancing, I was all ‘I know that girl from somewhere’ but couldn’t pinpoint from where which is ridiculous because you’d think I’d remember someone so beautiful—” he shuts his mouth when he realizes what he’d just said. His rambling often caused for blurting things out that should’ve stayed in his head. June, however, finds it rather adorable that he’d talk faster than his brain goes.  
“I almost immediately recognized your cute face,” she says teasingly. The compliment sends a rush to Reggie’s cheeks, tinting them in a scarlet red. A silence then falls over the both of them, only the crashing of the waves on the shore filling their ears. “So… Your parents…” June breaks the silence.  
“Yeah, they’ve been fighting a lot lately. It’s over small things, but it can get really loud,” he jams his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket to collect his nerves.  
“That sucks, Reggie… I’m sorry,” June says quietly as though telling a secret only her and Reggie can know. The boy looks down at her. She’s only a few inches shorter than him but has the personality of five feet more. Even after talking to her for a short amount of time, he can tell she is bigger than life. The joy in her face, the calmness. Those are all small parts of a whole personality that’s too big for this world. Too big for a body as small as hers.  
“I’m just glad Archie wasn’t home today. He’s my little brother, he’s only seven. I wouldn’t want him hearing them.” June nods understandingly.  
“Do you have any other siblings?” she asks him, to which he nods his head.  
“I have another older brother, Nate. He’s 18, and the pride of the Peters family.” Reggie scoffs at this. “I’m just the plain old middle child with nothing to offer the world.” June’s heart breaks at this train of thoughts of his. There’s no way that could ever be true.  
“I doubt that’s true, Reggie. I’m sure your parents are proud of you!” He chuckles, endeared by her attempts. “I’m serious! Don’t be so hard on yourself. I heard you were in a band? I bet you’re insanely talented!” He blushes again at this compliment. Hanging out with June and talking to her really is a boost for his self-esteem.  
“Eh, I’m alright on the bass, I guess,” he shrugs modestly.  
“I heard a lot of different opinions on that, Reggie Peters.” She raises her eyebrows at him.  
“Yeah, fine. I guess I’m pretty okay on the bass.” June gasps at this, which makes Reggie look up at her in confusion.  
“I totally have a weakness for bassists,” she explains, and Reggie’s eyes widen. “Yeah, totally! John Taylor from Duran Duran? He’s a babe! Mike Dirnt from Green Day? Yes, please!” He can’t help but laugh at her reaction to either of those bassists.  
“So, you’re really into music, huh?” he asks, wanting to know more and more about this girl.  
“I mean, I can’t really be a dancer without it, so… Yeah!” she answers excitedly, “My dad’s really into rock bands and introduced me to a lot of bands. He even plays a little bass and guitar himself. While my mom’s actually a dancer and more into classical or the up-beat poppy songs.”  
“That’s a very varied musical education,” Reggie points out with a smile, “What artists do you listen to mostly?” he then continues with the questions.  
“I’m a big fan of Madonna and En Vogue. Bryan Adams is a staple in our house,” she grabs him by the arm, her excitement now getting the better of her, “And in our house, if you shout, “I got me a car, it seats about twenty, so come on!” you bet your sweet ass, we’re all just going to yell back, “And bring your jukebox money!”” Reggie can’t help but laugh at this. At least it’s not the same in every household where fathers talk down to their children and parents are fighting.  
“It sounds like you have fun parents,” he says, and then follows up with, “Do you have siblings?”  
“Nope,” she shakes her head. “Only child over here. It’s fine though. I have enough friends now to make up for the emptiness of the lack of siblings.”  
“Right, of course,” Reggie mumbles, unable to wipe the smile off his face.  
“Hey! Let’s circle back to music! What artists are you into?” she asks, sensing the topic of family isn’t is favorite. He appreciates the change of subject a lot.  
“Uhm, mostly rock bands. Nirvana, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Guns ‘n Roses, The Cure, R.E.M., Kiss, Journey…” June gasps again and turns around, now walking backwards, to face him while still continuing their walk.  
“ _Any way you want it  
That’s the way you need it  
Any way you want it_,” she even imitates the guitar riff, but with all her excitement, she nearly trips and falls, letting out a shriek. Though, luckily for her, Reggie’s reflexes are fast enough to grab her by the arm and pull her closer, so she doesn’t meet the sand. “I was rocking out too hard,” she chuckles, her hands finding their way to his shoulders while his still hold onto her arms. That’s when she realizes how close they’re standing now. Mere inches away. Even up close, Reggie’s still cute. Cuter, even.  
He coughs, withdrawing his hands from her arms as she does the same, “You have a great voice though,” he compliments, jamming his hands back into his pockets.  
“Thanks! I do a lot of karaoke, so I’ve had some practice,” she winks before turning around again and falling into step with him. “Ooh! I know this great place for karaoke. I think it might take your mind off everything!” she suggests. Reggie opens his mouth to say something, but unsure of what. “Unless you have a curfew, of course?” He chuckles, then shakes his head. “Let’s go then!” She grabs his hand and hurries to the karaoke place. They were nearly there anyway, so it’s perfect.  
The two enter the building, June still holding onto Reggie’s hand, even though they’re walking beside each other again and June isn’t pulling him with her. The place is dimly lit with red wallpaper all over the walls. At the front desk sits an older, balding man.  
“Hey, Iggy!” June greets, making the man look up. “I brought fresh blood with me,” she introduces the ‘fresh blood’ next to her. Reggie just offers the man an awkward wave with the hand that isn’t in June’s.  
“I see! You guys want a booth?” he asks with the widest, kindest smile on his face.  
“Yes, please!” June gives him the cheekiest grin Reggie has ever seen. He finds it really adorable.  
“You can take booth 3, today. Remember I can only give you an hour, Junie! And it’s for free this time, seeing you brought some fresh blood.” If you didn’t know this was a karaoke place, you’d find this conversation rather ominous.  
“Oh! Thanks, Iggy!” June writes down her name and signature, now letting go of Reggie’s hand, and then takes it again to lead him to the booth Iggy has given them. “What song do you want to start with?” she asks Reggie when she’s at the machine.  
“Surprise me,” Reggie replies, wiggling his eyebrows. June stares at him for a moment, then turns back to the karaoke machine and puts _Any Way You Want It_ from Journey on. They were talking about that song anyway before heading this way. That night, the two of them sing every song in the machine’s repertoire that they both love. Reggie even gives her Express Yourself by Madonna, which she mostly sings by herself. Though, it’s a gift to him too. Watching her bounce off the walls, jumping around and dancing so freely and carelessly to one of her favorite songs is so endearing and attractive at the same time. He wishes he had the same amount of energy every day.  
“How about another duet now? To finish off?” June suggests. Glancing at her watch, she realizes the hour’s almost over. Five more minutes. Enough for one more song. “Ooh! Got one!” She presses play on the song before grabbing Reggie’s hand and pulling him off the bench he’d taken a seat on to watch her do Madonna so flawlessly.  
The starting notes of _Alone_ by Heart flows through the speakers.  
“You know this isn’t a duet, right?” he asks, pointing at the screen.  
“Just jump in whenever you feel like it,” she tells him just before the lyrics show on screen.  
“ _I hear the ticking of the clock  
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark  
I wonder where you are tonight  
No answer on the telephone_”  
She glances over at Reggie, giving him a shy smile.  
“ _And the night goes by so very slow  
Oh I hope that it won't end though  
Alone_”  
Reggie watches her every move. He can’t help the smile forming on his lips.  
“ _'Til now I always got by on my own_ ”  
Reggie jumps at the power of her voice before placing the microphone at his lips and jumping in.  
“ _I never really cared until I met you_ ”  
Surprised, June turns her head to find Reggie already looking at her. He keeps his voice soft, as to not overpower her already powerful one. He lets her shine for a moment.  
“ _And now it chills me to the bone  
How do I get you alone  
How do I get you alone_”  
Reggie turns to June, tapping her shoulder, so she turns too, and it’s like he’s singing to her.  
“ _You don't know how long I have wanted  
To touch your lips and hold you tight, oh_”  
June then jumps in too, keeping her voice soft this time, so that they’re taking turns to shine.  
“ _You don't know how long I have waited  
And I was going to tell you tonight_”  
She walks around him, watching him turn around himself to keep an eye on her, singing the next line alone.  
“ _But the secret is still my own_ ”  
Reggie now stops spinning and sings the next line at the top of his lungs to her.  
“ _And my love for you is still unknown_ ”  
She halts right in front of him, both of them staring at the other as they softly sing,  
“ _Alone_ ”  
She looks up at the instrumental intermezzo and opens her arm, letting out a long “oh”. Then Reggie does the same, impressing June with his high note. They then take a step closer to one another, and he grabs her free hand in his, softly swaying their intertwined hands, as they sing the chorus one more time. More powerful, this time. For both of them. Shining together.  
“ _'Til now I always got by on my own  
I never really cared until I met you  
And now it chills me to the bone_”  
He pulls her closer, placing his hand on her waist as hers goes to his chest.  
“ _How do I get you alone  
How do I get you alone_”  
The guitar solo blares from the speakers, and June and Reggie step away from each other simultaneously to rock out to it with their air-guitars. June giggles when she stops to watch him do his thing, watch him be unapologetically himself. She whoops and cheers him on, still bopping her head.  
“Oh! Reggie!” she yells, when she realizes they have to sing another bit, and he’s too caught up in his rocking out. The boy looks up, lets out an ‘oops’ and then they both sing together at the top of their lungs, perfectly in sync.  
“ _How do I get you alone  
How do I get you alone_”  
They walk towards each other again, meeting in the middle to sing the very last notes together. June stares up into Reggie’s eyes, and he swears he’s about to faint by how beautiful those eyes are up close. Even in the dimly lit room.  
“ _Alone, alone_ ”  
Their microphones lower as the song slows down, but neither of them makes another move. All they do, is stare in each other’s eyes. Then June picks up the courage to let her eyes dart over to his lips. The urge to kiss him growing inside of her. When she sees Reggie inching closer too, her eyes flutter close and meets him halfway. Their lips brush lightly at first, but then June deepens the kiss by tilting her head a little more.  
“All right, kids, time’s up!” Iggy’s voice makes the two of them jump apart. “Oh!” Iggy widens his eyes once he realizes what he’s interrupted. “Sorry, kids!” he chuckles awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. “I got other people in the lobby for the booth…”  
“Yeah, no. Of course! Sorry, Iggy,” June coughs awkwardly before grabbing her stuff and leaving the booth with Reggie in tow. Once outside, June turns to Reggie, feeling her cheeks heat up again.  
“Hey,” he starts, capturing her attention. He looks as nervous as she feels. “I’m sorry… For what happened in there?” It comes out as a question rather than a statement.  
“Uhm, no… It’s… It’s fine.” She inhales sharply, debating whether or not she should say. “I didn’t really mind what happened… I kind of liked it?” Reggie’s face lights up entirely, his smile reaching his ears.  
“Good! Because I kind of liked it too,” he admits, stepping closer towards her. “You think we could do it again?” She turns to face him, biting her bottom lip from nerves, and also to tease him a little as she pretends to think about it.  
“You mean the karaoke, or the other thing?” she asks, trying to keep a straight face, but failing.  
“Uh… Both…” he answers, placing his hands on her waist. June wraps her arms around his neck.  
“Definitely,” she replies and presses her lips to his again in a sweet, long kiss.  
“You want me to drop you off at home?” She smiles at his considerate offer.  
“Depends… Is it far out of your way home?” Reggie chuckles.  
“Probably, I live a couple houses down on the boardwalk,” he gestures into the distance.  
“Then you don’t have to. It’s just ten minutes from here. Nothing I haven’t done before.” He almost looks sad he has to leave her and go back home. “But I’ll walk you home?” He raises his eyebrow at the roll-reverse suggestion. “I need to head that way anyway to get home, so…”  
“Yeah, okay,” he chuckles, and takes her hand in his just like she’s done a couple of times tonight.  
All the way to his house, the two talk non-stop. He tells her about his friends and the band – which is the same thing, but still. And she talks about her best friend Maya and the other dancers at the dance studio. “This is me,” he says when he halts in front of a house near the beach. All of a sudden, his expression changes from happy to solemn and nervous.  
“Are you going to be okay in there?” June asks, noticing the change in behavior.  
“Yeah… Yeah, I will. Nothing I haven’t done before,” he repeats her words from before, though now they sound a lot more depressing than when she said it. “Will you talk to me when I see you in math?” June chuckles, endeared at the insecurity in his voice.  
“Of course,” she replies with a smile, “If I don’t talk to you, it might be weird if I did this,” she leans up and pecks his lips again. His eyes stay closed for a couple more seconds, letting the kiss sizzle on his lips. June giggles at this. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Reggie Peters.” Reggie can’t help the smile on his lips.  
“See you tomorrow, June Fray.” She offers him another smile and a wave, and then continues her walk home. When she gets there, her mother wants to know where she’s been, but once June gives her that shy, blushing smile, she knows what time it is and wants to know everything. In Reggie’s house, though, it doesn’t go down that easily. He gets a yelling at from his father while his mother tries to calm him down. It doesn’t faze him though. Reggie’s in love. And her name is Juniper Fray.


	8. To Find You Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willie takes the boys to the Hollywood Ghost Club where they see June again. A happy reunion?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is once again not mine (though a bop, I love it).  
> Always imagined June in the yellow dress you see the girl that appears on the table next to the boys', wearing.  
> Once again, the scene you know from the show is not mine, only the bits you "don't see" are mine. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

# 2020, Hollywood 

“Right this way,” Willie guides the guys out of the lobby and onto the balcony floor of the Hollywood Ghost Club. All three of them look around the place in awe. They’ve never seen a place like this before.  
“Woah,” says Luke, “So, this is where are your hotshot ghost lives, huh?” Willie simply raises an eyebrow while a smirk tugs at one corner of his lips.  
“Yeah, we’ve walked past this hotel like a million times. How come we’ve never heard of it?” Alex asks. Willie’s smile widens in pride. Pride of this place? Or pride because he knows something the boys don’t?  
“That’s because this area has been sealed off for decades,” he says, “I mean, you wouldn’t even know this place exists unless you’re invited.” Alex smiles at him in delight, while the other boys just stare at him in pure shock. They have no clue what’s waiting for them. “All right, I got to go make sure everything’s cool, but I’ll be right back.” Willie then disappears, leaving the three boys on their own.  
“The Hollywood Ghost Club?” Reggie reads the gold plaque to his right, then follows the boys to the railing of the balcony, looking down at the party going on downstairs. “This place is creepy.”  
“Yeah,” Alex’s voice is high-pitched again, “Well, so are we,” he chuckles, but Reggie doesn’t really find it funny.  
“I don’t know about this…” he goes, watching the people beneath them. Everyone’s cheering and laughing and hugging each other. They’re truly living their best life.  
“Well, if you get scared, you can always hide behind me,” Alex reassures him, “I’ll be hiding behind Luke.” The blonde boy steps back and behind his other best friend, who simply sighs at the immaturity of his friends.  
“You guys need to grow up, OK? We’re going to get back at Bobby,” Luke tells them, a little annoyed by his friends and overwhelmed by the party. He shakes his head, “He needs to pay for what he did to us.”  
“Yeah,” Alex agrees, then leans in towards Reggie, whispering, “I’m still going to hide behind him.” Luke, however, hears and rolls his eyes whilst shaking his head. He has to focus. They all have to.  
Willie appears again next to Luke, capturing all their attention.  
“We’re all good,” he says with a smile that reaches his ears.  
“Oh, uh, cool. Hey, just so you know, we have, like, an hour, because we’ve got a gig with Julie,” Alex informs him a little nervously.  
“Oh, yeah, no worries,” Willie replies.  
“Cool,” says Alex, staring – and drowning – in Willie’s eyes.  
“Let’s go!” The ghost most familiar with the place guides them to the stairs, “Normally, I’d have my deck and I’d backboard this heavy 20 set,” he leans against the banister, stopping the boys in their tracks, “But tonight, we’ve got company. Hope you guys are ready for this.” He hops onto the banister and glides down all the way to the bottom where he curtsies.  
“Wow,” Alex says, looking out onto the party when the three are still at the top of the stairs, “Are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Every attendee is dressed out to the max; long dresses, suits, ties, feathers, diamonds, … The lot.  
“I think we’re a little overdressed,” Luke says, fixing his long jean jacket before heading down the stairs with his boys in tow. Reggie tightens his jacket around him and flattens the side of his gelled hair, making sure it looks good enough for a party like this. His father always used to complain when Reggie wore the leather jacket to a party or when his hair would look untamed. Even though his father isn’t even here, he still has the urge to make sure he looks presentable enough on his father’s terms. As they watch the people at the party at the bottom of the stairs, a couple of party-goers walks right through Alex and Willie.  
“Whoa! I thought these people were all going to be ghosts!” Reggie points out, his eyes widened.  
“These are all lifers,” Willie informs them with that same proud smile on his face.  
“Oh, uh, lifers are actually…” Alex wants to show he knows the slang, but Reggie interrupts him.  
“Alive people. I was listening,” he says, smugly. Alex had already told them a couple hours prior when they asked Willie to help them out.  
“But this is a very exclusive crowd,” Willie continues, then turns to Alex, who’s standing next to him, “Everybody here has, uh, paid a lot to get a sneak peek at the afterlife.”  
“I always knew rich people did weird stuff like this,” Reggie states, not surprised at all.  
“Gentlemen,” an unfamiliar guy in a full white suit approaches them. “I have a table for you.” He has a French accent. “Right this way,” he gestures into a direction before heading that way himself and guiding the boys towards their table, right at the front of the stage. The four of them take a seat, first Willie, then Alex next to him and Luke and Reggie on the other half of the round table. “William,” the man says as he leans in to grab the ‘reserved’ board from the table.  
“Oh, yeah, thanks, man!” Willie holds his fist up as some sort of thankful sign.  
“OK, so, who’s going to make us visible so we can confront our old bandmate?” Luke asks, wanting this to be over with.  
“Oh, no. No, none of these lifers have the power to do that,” he says, and then the lights dim. The three boys glance around in confusion. “Oh, but here comes the ghost who does!” Willie drums on the table, leaving the boys confused and a tad overwhelmed.  
“Ladies and gentlemen, back from the dead by popular demand, please welcome Caleb Covington,” a man over the speaker announces. The crowd starts cheering and Willie even starts whooping along. The boys, not knowing what else to do, clap along.  
Suddenly, a man in black suit and cape appears in the air, floating.  
“Did you miss me?” the man asks, getting a ‘hell yeah’ from different corners of the room along with applause and cheers. “I did too!” The crowd laughs, and even Reggie can’t stifle a chuckle. “Welcome… To the party of your dreams!” More cheers and applause. “From the Egyptians to the Druids, to the person sitting next to you, we’ve all wondered, where do we go when that final light gets snuffed out. Allow me to show you.” A soft beat starts playing, getting the crowd eager to hear and see what he has to say.  
“ _Let me introduce myself  
We got some time to kill  
Consider me the pearly gates to your new favorite thrills  
We could go make history or you could rest in peace  
But here there ain't no misery  
'Cause on the other side we live like kings_”  
As the man floats backwards, waving his arms mysteriously, the boys are drawn into the music. They lean forward, awaiting what’s going to happen.  
“ _Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?  
Let your body loose, let your body loose  
Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?  
Show you a thing or two  
'Cause you ain't seen nothing_”  
They jump back when suddenly an entire band, along with the twins, appear behind Caleb. It startles the boys for a second, eyes widening and smiles brightening in surprise.  
“ _Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood_”  
Caleb toddles down the stairs on the stage as the male dancers in their bright pink blazers join in, each of them holding a plate of food. All while Caleb trots forward towards the boys.  
“ _Everything has got a price, but happiness is free  
Just so happens, you're in luck  
We've got a vacancy_”  
Someone throws Caleb his cane, and while he uses it has his dance prop, the French guy from earlier takes away the table decoration. Alex looks back at him, wondering where’s he’s going with that.  
“ _We can set the night on fire and break out of the scene_ ”  
“Hey, hey!” Willie coaxes him back, patting his shoulder. “Look.” He gestures to the tablecloth, which Caleb takes between his fingers.  
“ _Your soul print on the walk of fame  
On the boulevard of your wildest dreams_”  
Caleb pulls the cloth off the table with a swiveling movement, and a dancer appears on the tabletop. Reggie and Luke watch with wide eyes as she starts dancing to the music, entrancing both of them.  
“ _Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do boys?  
Let your body loose, let your body loose  
Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do boys?  
It ain't bragging if it's true  
Now you ain't seen nothing_”  
The girl smoothly dancing her way down on the table, ending up kicking Reggie nearly in the face but Caleb grabs her foot just in time. With one swift moment, he throws it off the table, the rest of the girl’s body following suit. The other male dancers pull the cloths of the tables now too, revealing all the other female dancers.  
“ _Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood_”  
So much is happening at the same time, the boys don’t even know where to look first. What they do catch is Caleb throwing his cane towards the stage, and poofing himself up there in time to capture it whilst lapsing into the fun, jazzy bridge. The dancers poof up there with him for the rest of the choreography.  
“ _The rain don't blind the rising souls  
They got too much to see  
I got your glamour, got your gold  
Got all you'll ever need  
Let me hear you now_”  
Alex suddenly spots a familiar face up the stage. “Hey, is that June?” he asks, pointing at the girl in the yellow dress on the revolving stage.  
“No, it can’t be! June’s dead!” Luke replies, but he can’t deny the girl does look like their old friend.  
“Well, so are we!” retorts Alex while Reggie’s eyes widen upon seeing the girl he hasn’t stopped thinking about since she died in 1994.  
“That IS June!” he exclaims loudly. If he still had a heart, it would be beating faster now, watching her dance and live out her dream, singing and dancing along in a colorful crew. For eternity.  
“ _I said watch me make a move, watch me make a move, boys_ ”  
“ _Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?_ ”  
The dancers follow Caleb down the steps, perfectly in sync.  
“ _I said watch me make a move, no, I don't disappoint_ ”  
“ _Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?”  
“Amen  
Watch me make a move, I'm ya number one choice_”  
Alex and June make eye contact for a split second, and the smile on Alex’s face is contagious. June gives him a wink. Their presence in the crowd really does boost her confidence. It’s a familiar face for once instead of all those strangers around her all the time.  
“ _Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?”  
“Watch me make a move  
Come one and give me that noise  
A tomb with a view  
Ain't it something?_”  
The dancers all drop down to the floor, pointing upwards to the aerial hoop act. Reggie, who’d been watching June for a long time, is now distracted by these acrobats, and gets up as if he wants to take a closer look. Luke grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him back down to his seat.  
June changes place, now dancing in front of her (ex-)boyfriend. The way he watches her makes her feel like old times. Like the day they first spoke to each other when he came to the dance studio.  
“ _Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood_”  
All dancers go into the crowd, getting the lifers up on their feet and stealing their chairs for the rest of their dance routine.  
“ _So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood_”  
They all freeze on the last beat, striking poses.  
“ _Ain't it the best?_ ”  
Change of pose.  
“ _Long live the dead!_ ”  
June ends up in a pose on her chair as the entire crowd bursts out into applause, Caleb having vanished as well. The band starts back up, and the pink dancer that was on the boys’ table at the beginning, bends all the way back to look at Reggie, who’s sat on his chair in complete shock. Not only because he’s seen his girl, but because of all the other attractive dancers. Especially the pink one as she winks at him. Luke grabs him by his shoulders again and pulls him up to his feet, Reggie clapping his hands rapidly. The pink girl then gets up and when she walks past Reggie, deliberately makes eye contact with him, smiling broadly. Reggie being Reggie, waves at her, completely starstruck.  
June, having seen this, runs after the pink dancer she knows as Natasha.  
“Hey, Natasha.” She turns at the sound of June’s voice. “Can you… Not flirt with the boy in the leather jacket, please?” she asks her a little nervously. Natasha raises her eyebrows at this, intrigued by the tiny bit of jealousy in the new girl’s voice. “That’s uhm… The boyfriend I told you about…”  
“Girl!” Natasha shrieks, grabbing June’s arm, “He’s a total hottie!”  
“Yeah, I know,” June chuckles, a little embarrassed by her own behavior.  
“Go! Talk to him!” she encourages her, but June shakes her head.  
“I’m a little queasy about it…” Natasha tilts her head slightly in confusion. “It’s been 26 years since I last talked to him. What if everything’s awkward? What if he doesn’t even want to see me again? I mean, he was pretty enthralled by the other dancers, especially you. Maybe he doesn’t even like me in that way anymore…” Natasha gives her an unimpressed look.  
“You really are still sixteen,” she mutters, “And he’s a seventeen year old boy. Of course he’s going to be distracted by dancers who’re barely wearing any clothes. That’s just how it works, sadly. But I’m sure he wants to talk to you too. Just try? Maybe go up to the group, you were friends with the other guys? And Willie? So… Just give it a shot, girl.” Her pep-talk somewhat works, but June still isn’t convinced. She needs some time to think it over and prepare herself for the moment. It has been 26 years after all. 

June has been pacing the top floor for about an hour, rehearsing what she’s going to say and then completely freaking out about it again. There’s no way she could go up to Reggie and say “ _Hey, baby. I missed you, did you miss me?_ ” Who does that anyway?  
In all her pacing, she doesn’t notice another figure storming up to the balcony floor until she bumps into them. The familiar hands grab her by her shoulders to keep her from tumbling back while hers grab onto the elbows. She looks up, muttering a sorry, and then completely freezes. Those beautiful green eyes she’d missed for about 26 years still look at her the same way.  
“Did you know they made eight more Star Wars movies and they killed Han Solo?!” he exclaims in frustration. June chuckles, endeared by the question he asks first after so many years.  
“Yeah, they also made up a character named Jar Jar!” she informs him, which sends him into even more shock. “What even is a Jar Jar?” she asks the rhetorical question. The two of them laugh light-heartedly, then fall completely silent for a while.  
“You did a great job up there. It kind of felt like I was alive again and watching you at your competitions.” He then reaches for the feathers in her hair. “I like the feathers.” June chuckles, raising her hand to feel the headpiece still on her head.  
“Thank you. The routine’s still kind of new and there are no rehearsals whatsoever,” she informs him, “Caleb and his magic…” He chuckles at that. Another silence falls over the both of them, neither knowing what to say or do. When all they really want to do is hug each other again. “So, how’s the afterlife treating you?” she asks instead.  
“Eh, it has it’s perks,” he shrugs, “We were brought back by this girl Julie and when we sing with her, people can see us! But then we also found out Bobby, who now goes by the name Trevor, by the way, what kind of name is that anyway? – he stole our songs… You know, Get Lost and Long Weekend. And I found out Crooked Teeth was actually about me and not Alex.” June sure has missed his ramblings.  
“Woah, that’s intense! I always thought Crooked Teeth was about Bobby?”  
“Apparently, it’s about me!” he exclaims in annoyance.  
“That’s crazy! You have the most perfect teeth I ever did see.” Her compliments make him blush.  
“So, how about you? How’s the afterlife for you?”  
“Long…” she replies, chuckling, “I’ve been a ghost since 1995, been looking for you guys since the Orpheum, and yes, I did see your soundcheck, by the way! It was really good! I was very proud. And then came back last year for –” she stops herself. He doesn’t have to know she’s part of the reason they came back. “Nothing in particular. Just gave up on looking for you, I guess? Then I met Willie and he introduced me to Caleb who gave me the opportunity of a lifetime… Or after-lifetime?” Reggie’s eyes are wide at all the information he’s getting at once.  
“You were haunting the Orpheum?” he asks. June chuckles.  
“No, I was just hanging out with a friend there. It doesn’t really matter…” she trails off and then moves to lean against the banister, looking down into the crowd. Reggie looks at her for a moment, taking it all in. The beautiful girl that came into his life in 1992 and died two years later, is standing here in front of him. He can barely believe it. Since when is he this lucky?  
“I really missed you,” he says, turning to stand beside her, leaning against the banister too.  
“I missed you too,” she replies, and the two look at each other for a moment. It’s almost as if no time has passed and they’re still in 1994 and head over heels in love with one another. Maybe they are.  
“So…” Reggie then starts, almost carefully, “Have you been seeing other ghosts?” June chuckles, turning around and leaning her back against the banister instead.  
“I told you, I’d been looking for you for 24 years. Willie is pretty much the first guy I saw since then and he’s gay, so…” Reggie looks at June, raising his eyebrow in thought. “Yeah, he totally has the hots for our favorite drummer.” He smirks at this, knowing all-too-well Alex feels the same. “What about you? Been flirting a lot these days, haven’t you?” She freezes when she realizes what came out of her mouth.  
“I mean—I … wouldn’t call it flirting, per se?” he tries cautiously.  
“You were totally starstruck by Natasha, I could see your eyeballs basically popping out of your eyes.”  
“Who’s Natasha?” he asks.  
“The girl in the pink dress,” she answers, trying to hide her jealousy to the best of her ability.  
“Oh! Yeah! She’s an amazing dancer!” Reggie exclaims, oblivious to what June’s feeling. “Just not as amazing as you?” he tries when June crosses her arms. He knows she only ever does that when she’s upset or frustrated with him.  
“Nice try, Reginald.” Reggie now stands up straight and turns around too, their shoulders touching.  
“Are you jealous, miss Fray?” June scoffs at this, shaking her head in disbelief before turning it away from him. “Hey,” she doesn’t listen. “I only ever flirted after you died because I missed flirting with you… But it always felt weird because in my mind and in my heart, I was still with you.” Those were the right words. The words June needed to hear. The reassurance she needed after so many years apart.  
She turns her head again to face him, “Really?”, she asks.  
“Really,” he answers. June’s lips curl up into a bright smile. She can’t help but feel happy talking to him again, being with him again. She was all wrong, it does still feel like it did when they last saw each other. True love never really goes away.  
“Can we go say hi to the boys?” she then asks, to which Reggie nods. He grabs her hand and takes her down to the boys with him but stops right before they arrive at the table. Luke and Alex seem deep in conversation about something kind of serious but that doesn’t stop Reggie.  
“How about I go up to them and tell them the Jar Jar thing and then go “Ooh, and guess who I found?” and then you poof in?” June raises her eyebrows but can’t help smiling anyway. This is the most Reggie thing he’s ever suggested, and she loves it. She simply nods her head in agreement and lets him go first. He storms up to the boys, letting the Jar Jar thing frustrate him again.  
“You guys are not going to believe this! But someone just told me they added a character named Jar Jar!” he tells them in frustration. “What’s a Jar Jar?!” The boys look up at their frustrated friend, worried about his wellbeing until a smile tugs at his lips. “Ooh! And guess who I found?” June pops in at that moment, right next to Reggie. She holds up her hands in surprise while Reggie’s hand finds its way back to her lower back. The place it’s always fitted perfectly.  
“Junie!” both Alex and Luke shout in delight, getting up from their chair to hug the girl in turn.  
“We’ve missed you so!” says Alex as he takes his seat again.  
“Yeah! How’ve you been?” Luke queries when he sits down again, too.  
“You know, dead…” This makes the boys chuckle. It’s almost as if they never separated after all.  
“I take it you boys are enjoying yourselves?” Caleb interrupts their lovely reunion. Luke and Alex stand up from their seats again while Reggie fixes his jacket once more before grabbing June’s hand. He needs it for his nerves for this intimidating man.  
“Yeah, I mean, you’d have to be insane to have a bad time here,” Luke replies. Caleb’s smile just widens, and it gives June the creeps. Knowing what she knows now, she doesn’t trust that guy for one second.  
“Well, entertainment is our specialty!” he exclaims, opening his arms to gesture his party. “So now, I understand there’s something I can help you with.”  
“Yeah, we hope so,” Reggie responds, squeezing June’s hand, “There’s an old buddy of ours that ripped us off big time and we want to make things right.” If she still had any nerves left in her body, she’d be pretty much dying from pain at how hard Reggie’s squeezing her hand. She slightly squeezes back, reassuring she’s still here with him.  
“Yeah,” Luke chimes in, “We want to look him in the eyes and make him admit what he did to us.”  
“So if you could make us visible, that would be perfect,” Alex adds. Caleb glances over at June and cocks his head curtly, telling her to bugger off. She squeezes Reggie’s hand one last time before walking off. A lifer asks her for a dance, which she agrees to, but makes sure she stays close to listen into the conversation. Caleb chuckles now, and June knows this is probably not a good thing.  
“Well, sure, I could do that. But we’re at a party! Why focus on those who have wronged us when we’re among friends? Now, I understand that the three of you are talented musicians,” Reggie shrugs, nodding his head humbly. “I doubt… your dream is to settle a score. No, your dreams are bigger than that! You’re like me, born to perform your music in front of sold-out crowds.” He snaps his fingers, and Elijah, the French guy, comes up with a chair, sliding it underneath Caleb. “Please, sit,” he says, and the three boys sit down in their seats again. Luke turns it around, sitting on it backwards, leaning on the back.  
“What if I were to tell you that with a wave of my hand, you could share the spotlight with me… and join my house band?” He sounds way too excited to be evil, but June still gets an ominous vibe from him. The boys chuckle lightly at this. “W-we already have a band,” Luke informs him.  
“Yes. Yes. But when you’re done performing, you disappear. You cease to exist.” The boys’ smiles falter. He’s wrapping them around his finger so easily. “No bows. No… no soaking up the applause. No real connection with the audience. Yeah? Here the audience knows what you are, and more importantly, they know how special you are.” He finishes with one of his big, award-winning smiles. The boys glance at each other, debating the offer.  
“Well, it could be cool to play here,” Luke offers to his bandmates.  
“Oh, it’s not just here.” This captures the boys’ full attention again. “We party like this all over the world. Tonight Hollywood, tomorrow Paris,” he pronounces the city with a French accent.  
“Oh là là,” Reggie mutters, completely in a trance.  
“It is all of your dreams come true… forever.” He pauses for dramatic effect, watching the boys’ reaction. They’re all seemingly thinking about the offer. Just like June’s offer, it’s very compelling. “I’m going to give you some time to think about it.” He gets up, Elijah taking his chair, and then turns to the boys again. “Oh, by the way, make sure you try the sliders. They’re to die for!”  
“W-we can eat?” Reggie queries, shocked with delight.  
“Here you can,” Caleb answers, and, with a snap of his fingers, and the waiters bring them three plates filled to the max with food. Meatball subs, pizzas, and hamburgers. All things the boys have had to miss for what feels like an eternity. They all stare at the food as if it’s a god-send.  
“Oh yea—” Luke wants to exclaim as he reaches for a hamburger near Alex, but the boy grabs his friend’s hand, stopping him.  
“Wait!” It almost looks like Alex is going to come up with some ridiculous reason why they shouldn’t eat. “I want the one without cheese,” he says instead and grabs a cheese-less bun, letting Luke pick one with cheese. The three dead teenage boys start stuffing their mouths with whopping amount of food.  
“You guys enjoying yourselves?” June asks when she comes back to the table after the lifer she’d danced with told her he was going to go get a drink. She watches the boys finish up their last slice of pizza or meatball sub. Willie has now joined the table again as well, sitting down in his original spot while June stands next to him, her hand on his shoulder.  
“Oh, pizza! I missed you!” Luke professes his love for the slice in his hand before taking another bite. June and Willie watch the entire scene, chuckling at the boys’ antics. A lot of ghosts have the same reaction when they eat again after so many years of being dead. It was June’s reaction when she ate pizza again at the first performance.  
“Reg, are you kissing that meatball sub?” Alex asks, his mouth full of pizza. Willie raises his eyebrows in confusion while June just shakes her head as the boy stops kissing the food in his hand.  
“It’s what you do with the things you love,” he replies matter-of-factly.  
“Then why haven’t you kissed June yet?” Luke asks cheekily. June decides to play along with him and gasps, placing a hand on her chest where her heart used to be.  
“You don’t love me anymore, Reginald?” she questions dramatically. The boy stammers and stutters, not knowing what to say. “I’m kidding. Enjoy that meatball sub, baby.” Reggie smirks and takes another bite from the delicacy until Caleb’s voice sounds through the speakers again.  
“I take it you’re all enjoying the feast?” The audience applauses, erupting into cheers. Reggie puts down his sub and turns to face the stage, focusing on the man speaking. “So many delicious sights. So many tantalizing sounds. But… your eyes still hunger for more! Something sweet,” Reggie looks over at June, and when she looks at him too, gives her a wink. “Something… savory.” Caleb moves towards the grand piano and steps on top of it. “How many newcomers do we have in the club tonight?” Reggie and Luke raise their hands, and Alex does the same after a pat on the chest from Willie, along with a couple lifers behind them. “Ladies…” he turns to his musicians and the twins on the stage. “Let’s show our guests how we do dessert.” The crowd erupts into more cheers. “ _A one, two, three, four._ ” The band starts back up with the same song as earlier. June dances her way over to Reggie and Luke, shaking as if she has no control over her own body.  
“ _Shoo bada papa roo bada bada”  
“Hey, um bum bum bum bum baram, hey!_”  
Reggie and June scat along, facing one another with smiles on their faces. It’s almost as if they’re back at Iggy’s. June then joins the crew again, doing the routine she’s done about three times now.  
“ _Shoo bada papa roo bada bada”  
“Hey, um bum bum bum bum baram, hey!”  
“Arum bum,”  
“Hey!”  
“Arum, bum”  
“Hey!_”  
June points at Reggie when the choreography allows her to run backwards, towards him.  
“ _Scoo bi doo bap bap”  
“Hey!”  
“Watch me make a move  
Watch me make a move, yeah_”  
June, along with Frances, kneels down in front of the boys’ table, singing the next line with them.  
“ _Whatcha gonna do?  
Whatcha gonna do?_”  
They join back into the choreo again.  
“ _I say watch me make a move  
Watch me make a move, oh”  
“Whatcha gonna do?  
Whatcha gonna do?”  
“I say, watch me make a move  
Watch me make a move, yeah”  
“What you gonna do?  
What you gonna do?”  
“Watch me make a move  
Best you ever knew_”  
Willie pats Alex’s shoulder before he runs up and joins in with the dance crew. After having seen this routine a couple of times, and with a little bit of Caleb’s magic, he’s capable of doing it without mistakes. June beams at him while Alex looks on in shock. A dancing man. Attractive.  
“ _Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood_”  
Willie pulls Alex up on his feet, the other boys, along with some lifers, joining in on the dancefloor. Natasha twirls around each of the boys, then kicks her leg up in front of Reggie before stepping up to stand before him, grabbing his hands and shimmying down. She even strokes a hand against his cheek, causing him to nearly faint. Luke and Alex are both quick on their feet and catch their friend before he falls on his ass. Natasha then just dances off, pretending nothing even happened. Then, to top it all off, Caleb sends in the twins to dance with Luke and Reggie. Before June can step in and dance with Reggie herself, a lifer comes up to her and asks her to dance. Not being able to say no, she grabs the man’s hand and starts dancing with him. Though throughout the entire dance, she keeps an eye on the boys. Mostly on Reggie, even though seeing Alex dance with Dante and Fuego is just about the cutest thing.  
“ _Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
So welcome to the brotherhood  
Where you won't be misunderstood  
Life is good on the other side of Hollywood  
Ain’t it something?_”  
Caleb stops singing, and the clock strikes twelve.  
“Oh!” Caleb exclaims upon noticing this. “The haunting hour is upon us!” The crowd erupts into ominous “ooh”s, and then the band picks back up with a different song. When June thinks this is her moment to step up to Reggie, she realizes he’s still dancing with Alison. She can’t interrupt that. So, instead, she poofs out and onto the balcony where she finds Willie too.  
“You don’t like him dancing with other people, do you?” he asks her when she takes the spot beside him. June lets out a big, frustrated sigh.  
“I hate feeling this way!” she groans. “I never really was that jealous a person when I was alive but seeing him be so… enamored with Natasha and Alison, I just… I don’t know, Will. I just really don’t like it.”  
“I know how you feel, Ju,” he replies as she rests her head on his shoulder. The two keep an eye on the boys, and when they see them panic, Willie shuts his eyes in realization.  
“They had a gig at nine! Damn it!” June snaps her head up as Willie runs off, her support suddenly gone. She follows after him but stops when he does at the sound of Caleb’s voice.  
“The party’s just getting started and you have an eternity after all…”  
“You know the girl who can see us?” Reggie starts, “We sort of bailed on her. You see, there’s this dance at her school tonight, and her friend Flynn is like a super cool DJ, like…” he imitates being a DJ – terribly.  
“OK, I don’t think he has an eternity to hear the story,” Alex cuts him off. He’s nervous enough as it is already. He doesn’t need Reggie’s Reggie-ness in the mix too.  
“Basically, we’re late for a gig,” Luke jumps in with the short explanation.  
“But what about my offer?” Caleb asks, clearly offended by their rejection.  
“It’s very cool of you, Mr. Covington, but, like I said, we already have a—”  
“Band of your own, I understand…” the man finishes his sentence.  
“OK…” Alex breathes out, and the boys start making their way out until Caleb stops them.  
“Oh, boys,” he says, “If you ever want to come back and fix that little problem with your friend, the Hollywood Ghost Club is always open.” It sounded like an ominous threat at first, but then turned into something nice. Or that’s what it sounds like, at least. The boys smile up at him, thankfully.  
“Yeah, man, we’d love to come back!” Luke tells him honestly.  
“Ah! Music to my ears!” He holds his hand out to Luke to shake it, but instead grabs his wrists. Then does the same to Alex, and then Reggie. Every time, a sizzling sound is heard to those with a good ear. The boys look down at their arm, which now holds a purple stamp. “Oh, it’s just a little club stamp,” he reassures them. Upon seeing this, June glares at Willie, who pretends to not feel her eyes burning his skin. He’d promised nothing would happen.  
“Cool,” Reggie chuckles, dropping his arm again.  
“Until next time,” Caleb says, letting out an ominous chuckle after. Luke chuckles, muttering a ‘Peace!’ before passing Caleb and going out the door.  
“See you around,” says Reggie, and chuckles smarmily, imitating Caleb’s own chuckle. Alex nudges him in the ribs, making him stop. “What? That’s what he just did?!” he whispers to his buddy.  
“Dude,” Alex says sternly. Reggie offers Caleb one last toothy smile before passing him too and following after Luke. “Uhm… Uh, if Willie asks, not that he would, but if he does, will you let him know that I was looking for him?” Caleb closes his eyes and nods his head barely noticeable. Alex chuckles, mutters a “thanks,” and then runs after his friends. When all three are gone, June and Willie come out of hiding.  
“Uh, Caleb…” Willie starts, but Caleb doesn’t look at either of them. Instead, he straightens out the sleeves of his shirt. “You never said you were going to… use your stamp. You know what that’ll do to them.” Caleb’s eyes slowly dart from his sleeve towards Willie, giving him once again an ominous, creepy vibe.  
“Of course I do, William,” he replies, which makes Willie recoil a little. “But they’re too powerful. I need them working for me. Now they’ll have no option but to accept my invitation.” Caleb places a hand on Willie’s cheek as he passes him, then puts it on June’s shoulder. Willie turns around himself, following Caleb until he’s completely gone.  
“You promised, Will,” June’s voice makes him snap out of his thought. “You promised nothing would happen to them!” He shushes her when her voice grows louder, attracting the attention of lifers. “Don’t you dare shush me, William. Those are my friends and you brought them in danger!”  
“I know, I’m sorry, June. I swear, I had no idea he would actually use his stamp on them.” He tries to keep his own voice down as to not have Caleb overhear them bickering.  
“You know what he’s capable of though! You should’ve known he would use his stamp on them! You spend all these years in here, being his lackey, doing what exactly?! Bring innocent ghost boys in danger? Bringing them to an all-powerful ghost? What were you thinking, Will?!”  
“Aren’t you happy you got to see them?!” June sniffles, and that’s when she realizes she’d started crying.  
“Yeah, but at what cost? If they don’t take Caleb’s offer, they’re just going to vanish again. I can’t have them dying on me again, Will. I really can’t!” Willie comes to a standstill as he watches his friend become sadder and sadder with the second.  
“They could always take Caleb’s offer?” Willie suggests, but June shakes her head.  
“No, I doubt that’s what they actually want to do in life – afterlife…” She takes one of the fringes of her dress in her hand again, twirling it around her finger. “When I saw them on the stage at the Orpheum and then a couple of days ago at the school with Julie, they were beaming, happy. When they play with Julie, they feel alive again. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Play with Julie. Not some stupid ghost club.” Willie takes June’s fidgeting hand in his, making her look up and the fringe fall into place again.  
“But if they take Caleb’s offer, they’ll be with us?” he tries to reassure her, but it almost sounds like he’s reassuring himself. He knows Caleb just wants them in his power to stay the most powerful ghost in the world. He’s not one to share the spotlight.  
“Yeah, but we both know that’s a terrible idea.” Willie nods his head agreeingly. “Can we go eat some pizza? When I was alive, I always ate my feelings away.” The boy chuckles before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her towards the buffet. Even if the boys can’t be here, she still has Willie by her side. They’ll always have each other. For eternity.


	9. Uptown Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June goes to Julie and The Phantoms' gig at the Eats&Beats café and Alex's dancing gives her a flashback to 1993 when the boys came to the dance studio to cheer her up. Back in 2020, the boys' chaotic energy over Julie getting busted, causes for some upstir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used in this chapter are not mine, credit to owners.  
> \- Borderline/Open Your Heart - Glee Cast Version  
> \- All Eyes On Me - Julie and the Phantoms (Dirty Candy)  
> \- Uptown Girl - Billy Joel  
> \- Finally Free - Julie and the Phantoms
> 
> I don't own the characters of Reggie, Luke, Alex, Julie, Willie Carrie, Kayla, Ray, Andi Parker, Caleb. Only characters that belong to me from this chapter is Juniper Fray and Carolynn (dance teacher -- and yes, she is kinda based on Carolynn Shada, though I think she's only trained in ballet?) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!

# 2020, Hollywood 

June hasn’t stopped thinking about Reggie since last night. Not that she ever thought of anyone else before that either, but you know. Even more so now. His panicked, frustrated face when he found out about the Star Wars movies makes her crack up every time she thinks of it. Or the nervous squeezing of her hand when he was talking to Caleb. It’s been a thing he did whenever he stood up to his father when they were alive. But then she sees him dancing with Alison or Natasha again, and all the happy, content feelings eb out.  
She’s walking Sunset Boulevard, humming along to a song that’s been stuck in her head, but she has no clue what it is or who sings it. She just heard it at a music store she’d walked into a little earlier, and now she can’t shake it anymore.  
“Got no shame, I love the way you’re screaming my name”  
But that’s the only line she remembers, the rest is just ‘la la la’ or humming. It was a good song though. Too preoccupied trying to remember the song, she doesn’t really look where she’s going or notice how far she’s gone until she finds someone familiar. Willie’s standing on his tiptoes, board in hand, peeking through a window. Confused and curious, June walks up to him and peeks in too.  
“Who’re we spying on?” she asks, making him jump. Inside the building, which seems to be a café, are Luke, Reggie and Alex, talking. “Oh, we’re spying on the boyfriend!” she wiggles her eyebrows teasingly.  
“Shut up, Ju,” Willie snarls, making June jump a little. She was only joking. The boy sighs. “I’m sorry. But I got worried about them, you know?” He offers her an apologetic look before glancing back inside. Alex’s eyes meet theirs, all of a sudden. June can see him say “Hey, isn’t that Willie?” before getting up from the chair, but before he’s gotten through the door, Willie has already skated away. This without June noticing, so now she’s left with Alex.  
“Hey, Lex…” she drawls out, getting a little nervous.  
“Hey, Junie,” he greets back, “What’s going on? Why did he skate away so quickly?” He gestures into the direction Willie had skated off into.  
“I’ve got no clue what’s crawled up his butt…” she lies, chuckling nervously.  
“Oh… OK…” He jams his hands into his pockets. The both of them try their hardest not to make eye contact, finding it equally awkward. Alex just wants to talk about Willie while June knows something he doesn’t, and she can’t tell him. “Hey, uh… Sorry we didn’t say goodbye last night. We kind of had to rush off,” he tells her instead, changing the subject and making the air around them a little lighter.  
“Oh, yeah, no. That’s fine! Willie told me you guys had a gig. How’d that go?” Alex chuckles.  
“We were too late. The dance was already over and now Julie’s upset with us, understandably, and quit the band. We’re trying to kind of win her back by booking ourselves a gig in there,” he points to the café behind him. June nods her head understandingly.  
“I hope Julie changes her mind,” she says with a smile, which Alex returns.  
“Yeah, me too,” he sighs, “Hey! You should come tonight! You know… if we actually do play and you’ve got nothing else to do?” June’s smile widens. She remembers going to their gigs all the time and it was the best thing ever.  
“I’ll see what I can do,” she replies, which is enough for Alex’s smile to widen, “I’m going to go check up on Willie, if you don’t mind. See if he’s okay.” Alex nods his head. “Say hi to Reg and Luke for me, yeah?”  
“Definitely. Say hi to Willie from me too.” Now June nods her head before giving him a wave and poofing away. She finds Willie in an alley, talking to Caleb. Not wanting to interrupt, she stays back a few feet, hiding behind a waste container.  
“Oh, and if you want to check on the boys for me again… Do let me know,” Caleb says before poofing out, leaving Willie alone in an alleyway.  
“What did he have to say?” June asks when she’s come out of hiding, startling Willie again.  
“Jeez, Ju! Twice in a row. Stop doing that!” June snickers, holding her hands up in defense. “He knows I came to check up on the boys. We really need to be careful around them…” June raises her eyebrows at him. She has nothing to do with this. They were her friends before they all died. Nothing can stop her from hanging out with them.  
“You’re his lackey, not me, Will. You have to be careful around them.”  
“I doubt he’ll appreciate you hanging around them,” he reasons with her and he’s probably right. Though June won’t tell him that. “Want to go hang out at Justin Bieber’s pool again? I heard he filled it, so we could go swimming?” June raises her eyebrows at him.  
“I have a better idea,” she says, and grabs his hand. She poofs them out of the alley and into an empty, abandoned mall. Ivy’s crawling everywhere, shards of glass on the floor and pieces of the ceiling peeling and dropping down. “I came here once with the boys in October when we were fifteen. We thought it’d be cool to trespass and visit an abandoned building.” June scoffs at the memory. She can still feel Reggie squeezing her hand and Alex staying close while Bobby and Luke went out exploring. Though they don’t like to admit it, they were pretty scared too.  
“This is amazing!” Willie whispers, as if saying it too loud would make it go away. It only takes a few seconds before he drops his skateboard to the floor and starts skating around. June watches him backboard the escalators, and yelps whenever he falls off, forgetting he’s a ghost and nothing can happen to him because everything already happened to him. After a while, the two of them poof in and out of hallways together, then split up to explore by themselves. Becoming a ghost really has its perks. Back in the day when she came here with the boys, she was pretty scared, mostly to get caught – which they did, by the way – but now, nothing can happen to her. Ever.  
While Willie explores the food court, June goes through all of the shops, just to see if they left anything behind she could do with in the afterlife. But besides a few glass shards, empty beer bottles and plastic, there’s nothing here of any significance. That’s until she finds an old music store. Everything inside’s been ripped to shreds. Pieces of sheet music are scattered around the floor, wallpaper peeling off. Nothing’s intact. Nothing except for a few instruments. A grand piano and a drumkit. With a smile, June sits down at the overgrown-with-ivy piano and plays a couple of notes. It sounds a little shrill, but still sounds good enough. She then walks over to the drumkit, finding drumsticks in a small pocket attached to the drums. She tries a couple of toms, then tightens the drums when she finds them a bit loose. Once they’re good to go, she attempts to remember the stuff Alex taught her when they were at the studio together. The drum solo even lures Willie into the music store, a surprised smile on his face.  
“I didn’t know you were a drummer?” he asks, touching a few keys on the piano.  
“Alex taught me,” she replies. The mention of Alex’s name makes Willie look up, a bush spreading on his cheeks. He then turns back to the piano and plays a couple notes. “You know how to play?” He nods.  
“A little, yeah.”  
“Play something,” she urges him with a sweet smile on her face. He plays a melody; one June knows by heart. One June knows how to drum to. When she starts drumming, Willie looks up again, not stopping the piano playing, but gives her a hopeful look as though he’s encouraging her to sing.  
“ _Something in the way you love me won't let me be  
I don't want to be your prisoner so baby won't you set me free  
Stop playing with my heart, finish what you start  
When you make my love come down  
If you want me let me know, baby let it show  
Honey don't you fool around_”  
Willie surprises June by continuing with a different song, making a mash-up out of it.  
“ _Don't try to resist me  
Open your heart to me, baby  
I'll hold the lock and you hold the key_”  
With a smile on her face and Reggie in her mind, she joins in.  
“ _Open your heart to me, darlin'  
I'll give you love if you, you turn the key_”  
June then goes on with a verse from Borderline, Willie following suit with some echoes.  
“ _Something in your eyes is making such a fool of me”  
“You're making me, you're making such a fool of me”  
“I see you on the street and you walk on by”  
“You're on the street I see you as you walk on by”  
“When you hold me in your arms you love me 'til I just can’t see”  
“Ooh_”  
Their voices blend again for the pre-chorus and the chorus from Open Your Heart.  
“ _I saw you choose to look the other way  
Well I've got something to say  
Open your heart to me, baby  
I'll hold the lock and you hold the key  
Open your heart to me, darlin'  
I'll give you love if you, you turn the key_”  
June can tell Willie has Alex in his mind the same way she has Reggie in hers. She can see it in the fire in his eyes as he glances from the piano to her and back.  
“ _Open your heart to me, baby  
I hold the lock and you hold the key  
Open your heart to me, darlin'  
I'll give you love if you, you turn the key  
Ooh open your heart with the key_”  
June stops drumming and Willie does the same, though their last note still bounces off the walls.  
“You’ve got a really great voice, Will!” June compliments as she gets out from behind the drums.  
“Thanks! I used to sing in the car with my parents a lot when we still talked, you know?” June offers him a small, sympathetic smile. “But your voice is amazing too, Ju!” A blush creeps across her cheeks.  
“Sat in a lot of the boys’ band practices,” she tells him with a smile. “Hey, speaking of which! Do you think Caleb needs us tonight? The boys are playing a gig with Julie, if she joins the band again, and Alex invited us to come!” Willie’s lips curl up into a careful smile.  
“You can go. I don’t think Caleb needs you tonight, but I don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to be there…” June tilts her head in confusion. “Caleb keeps tabs on me all the time. If he finds out I’m anywhere near them, he’ll probably come in and ruin their gig, or something.”  
“Right… Yeah, okay. You don’t mind if I go though, do you?” He chuckles, shaking his head.  
“You have fun tonight seeing your boyfriend,” he gives her a wink, “I’m going to go now. I’ll see you around?” June nods her head determinedly. “Cool. Bye, Ju!”  
“Bye, Will!” She waves at him seconds before he poofs out of the abandoned mall, abandoning her. Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, she touches the keys of the piano, letting it chime through the empty space. Normally, being alone in an unknown place would freak her out, but not this time. This time, it brings her a sense of peace. It gives her the strength to think about everything that has happened since she died. Darkness – Rose – More darkness – Julie – Willie – Reggie. Reggie. She’s missed that boy so much. It kills her not being able to spend time with him. Willie is right. She can’t spend time with them for the same reason he can’t. She wishes she could. She wishes spending time with Reggie wouldn’t bring him in danger. She wishes it wouldn’t bring her in danger either.  
“Afterlife sucks even more than actual life…” she mutters to herself, then chuckles because she’s talking to herself in an abandoned shopping mall. This is getting ridiculous.  
After pressing one more key on the piano, she poofs out of the mall and back to the café where the boys were earlier. Two girls are on the stage, singing their little hearts out. They don’t sound bad. At all.  
“Junie!” she hears Alex’s voice shout over the music, and before she knows it, arms are wrapped all around her. The boys have tackled her into a group hug. She doesn’t even have enough time to register it. “I’m glad you came after all!” he tells her when they’ve let her go.  
“Still your number one fan,” she says proudly, making all three boys laugh. Reggie quickly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, as though it’s an automatism from when they were alive. “I take it Julie joined the band again?” The boys all nod their heads, beaming with pride.  
“Her dad did send her to her room though, so we’re hoping she could sneak out without her aunt seeing her,” Reggie explains with a nervous little smile. “Ooh! If she doesn’t show, June can join in!” he suggests overexcitedly. The other two and June raise their eyebrows at him.  
“I don’t think that’s going to work, Reg…” June says to him, hoping he’d realize on his own why.  
“Why not, Junebug? You’re equally as good as Julie!”  
“Dude, June’s dead. No one can see her either,” Luke says sharply, making Reggie flinch a little. June wonders whether it’s because of the way Luke said it or the words that made him flinch.  
“Right… Yeah…” he trails off and looks down at his feet. To comfort him a little, June reaches out to grab his hand and squeezes it, earning a thankful smile from him.  
“Julie’s here!” Alex then points at the door where she’d just walked in from. June looks up at the girl that resembles her oldest friend since the start of her afterlife. Even from this distance, she spots the dahlia on Julie’s jacket. It’s Rose’s favorite. Her room had dahlias scattered all around.  
“You want to meet Julie, Junebug?” Reggie asks, slowly letting go off his girlfriend’s hand. For a second, June panics. Meeting Julie would be like seeing Rose again, and she doesn’t know if she’s ready for that yet. It still hurts knowing she left Rose to fend for herself after 1995 and die 20 years later. It still hurts knowing she could’ve spent more time with her.  
“Uhm, no… I-I don’t think she can see me anyway. So, you guys go. I’ll be right here cheering you on!” she offers them the most convincing smile she can muster. Reggie smiles at her before pressing a kiss to her cheek, and then following the boys to Julie. From a distance, June keeps an eye on them. Beside Julie stands a pretty, young girl. About the same age as Julie. She must be the best friend. Her glowing dark cheeks and curious eyes make her seem like the sweetest girl. Though the scowl that replaces the smile after seeing Julie, says something entirely different.  
“Hope you all came to have a great time,” the girl in the pink wig on stage giggles before putting her sunglasses on and turning to walk towards the back of the stage.  
“ _Whenever I walk in the room_ ”  
A bubblegum pop song starts playing, sending the crowd into cheers.  
“ _All the focus on me_ ”  
The girl is joined by four other girls, all in color-coordinated wigs and outfits.  
“ _The way I talk the way I move  
They all want on my team_”  
June can tell this girl has the same amount of confidence as Madonna. As she should. She’s gorgeous, has a great voice and great moves. June’s favorite by far is the one in the purple wig.  
“ _Not tryin' to brag, brag  
But I'm flawless  
I'm taking over your playlist  
Ain't perfect but I can't miss, yeah  
The party don't start till I walk in  
I'm stealing all the attention_”  
All of a sudden, someone she knows and loves pops up on the stage, looking a little lost.  
“Alex,” June whispers, shaking her head in amusement.  
“ _Don't get me started on mentions, yeah_ ”  
His lost and confused expression makes way for an excited smile as he imitates the girl’s moves.  
“ _Some might say I sound conceited  
They don't get the shine that I get  
Some get jealous  
They can't help it  
They wish they were me_”  
Forget the girl in the pink wig, her favorite out of all of them is Alex. It reminds her of the time the boys came to the studio after June had stayed away for a longer time than planned and they got worried. They told her to teach them something.  
Which of course, she couldn’t say no to.

# 1993, Malibu

June had a terrible day. Besides getting an F back in math and being partnered with Sam, the biggest asshole, for an English project, she now couldn’t seem to get the routine Carolynn taught them in class today. She had to ask Carolynn if she could stay a little longer, practice by herself. Caro, trusting June with the keys, let her. She knew it would help June and have her be in top form tomorrow.  
After the tenth time, she finally starts getting it somewhat right. She rewinds the track to go for an eleventh time when a group of three boys watching from behind the glass catches her attention. Confused, she gestures for them to come inside. The boys obey, carefully opening the door and stepping one foot inside.  
“What are you, bozos, doing here?” she asks with a chuckle, pausing her music.  
“Uhm…” the boys stutter and stumble, exchanging panicked glances until Alex steps forward.  
“We got kind of worried when you didn’t come to Bobby’s garage after dance practice like you promised.” June’s eyes widen. She’d completely forgotten about that. They were supposed to meet at Bobby’s to go to the movies together.  
“God! I’m so sorry, guys! I completely forgot!” she apologizes profusely. “I was just having trouble with the routine and asked Caro if I could stay a little while longer. I totally forgot!” Reggie sighs, his mouth curling up into a relieved smile as he walks up to her and pecks her cheek.  
“It’s okay. We were just worried something happened,” he says, wrapping his arms around her waist.  
“What are you working on?” Luke asks, curious about her work.  
“A really hard routine Carolynn came up with,” she sighs, “You want to see?” The boys let out a loud murmur of assent, making June giggle before pressing play on the stereo and getting in position. She has to concentrate pretty hard on each and every move but gets more and more confident after every part she got right. That’s until the final pirouettes hit. On the very last one, she throws her ankle and falls on the hardwood floor with a loud thud and a hiss.  
“June!” the boys yell in unison and rush to her side, to make sure she’s alright. She curses and hisses, holding onto her ankle. Nothing’s worse for a dancer than sprain an ankle and having to sit out on practices or competitions. Mostly because they’ll say they’re fine and make it worse with every move.  
“Are you okay, baby?” Reggie asks, taking the shoe off her foot.  
“Should I go get some ice?” Alex asks, pointing somewhere behind him. Reggie nods his head while June shakes hers, confusing the tall drummer. “Which is it?” he chuckles light-heartedly.  
“It’s fine. It’s not even swelling,” she mutters and reaches out for someone to help her up. Reggie and Luke both grab her hands and under her arms, hoisting her up her feet. “See! I’m fine!” she says when the boys let go and she can walk properly. Though, she’s not going to lie, it kind of does hurt.  
“Junebug, I know throwing your ankle means no competitions, but wouldn’t it be better if we did put some ice on it? Just to make sure it really doesn’t swell and doesn’t get worse?” She walks over to her bag and fishes a small pot out.  
“Magic salve!” she says excitedly and sits down on the floor to rub the ointment into her skin. Reggie kneels down next to her and swats her hand away from the pot, so he can grab an egg-sized amount of it to rub on her warm ankle.  
“That’s romantic,” Alex says, half serious, half joking. Luke laughs at this, while June and Reggie just exchange glances, both silently agreeing with their friend.  
“I’m never going to get this routine down, am I?” she then blurts out the thoughts that had overspilled in her brain. The three guys spring into action after hearing this, seemingly having all the compliments for comfort at the ready.  
“It was just the pirouette, though!” Luke tells her, pointing to the center of the studio where she was dancing earlier. “The rest was really good!” Alex nods his head vigorously in agreement.  
“There’s no one better at their thing than you are, Junie-Balloony. Just because you had one set-back doesn’t mean you’re never going to get this!” His voice is mellow, and it calms June down a little bit.  
“The boys are right, Junebug,” Reggie chimes in. “You’re the most resilient and hard-working girl I have ever met. You’re ambitious and incredibly stubborn. You don’t stop until you get something right and you always get it right at some point. I’ve yet to see you give up on something, but I don’t even think I want to.” June smiles at the words of her boyfriend and best friends.  
“Thanks, guys. You really are the best.” She leans in and kisses Reggie on his forehead when he’s finished massaging the balm into her skin.  
“How about a break?” Luke suggests as Reggie pulls his girlfriend up.  
“Yeah! You could teach us something! I bet that’s going to cheer you up!” Alex adds with excitement boiling over. June glances at each of the boys to check if they’re serious or not. At first, it seems like neither Luke nor Reggie are agreeing with their friend, but after a couple knowing glares from the blondie, they too finally give in.  
“Okay, I’ve been working on something myself that I think you guys could do too,” she says as she walks over to the middle of the room, the boys standing a little behind her to make sure they can see properly. It takes about half an hour to get four times eight out of them, but eventually, they’ve mastered it. Alex has got it down first, then Luke. Reggie, however, is having a little more trouble, but that could just be because of the pretty girl dancing with him.  
“Let’s try this to music, yeah?” June suggests and turns to the stereo. She puts the Billy Joel cd in and skips to the instrumental version of Uptown Girl.  
“Five, six, seven eight!” June counts them down, and as the boys start dancing along with her, they also start singing the song, much to June’s surprise. Reggie’s taking the leading vocals while the others do backing-vocals as though they’d practiced this beforehand.  
“ _Uptown girl  
She's been living in her uptown world  
I bet she's never had a backstreet guy  
I bet her mama never told her why_”  
She twirls around and towards her boyfriend, who catches her smoothly. The two continue the dance while Luke and Alex do a simple step-touch with finger snapping behind them.  
“ _I'm gonna try for an uptown girl  
She's been living in her white bread world  
As long as anyone with hot blood can  
And now she's looking for a downtown man  
That's what I am_”  
Reggie twirls her around and lets her go until she falls into Luke’s arms. It doesn’t feel weird at all not dancing with her boyfriend. If anything, dancing with Luke is equally as fun since he puts so much of his energy into it.  
“ _And when she knows  
What she wants from her time  
And when she wakes up  
And makes up her mind  
She'll see I'm not so tough  
Just because_”  
Luke then sends her off to Alex, who’s been step-touching his way towards her. She grabs his bicep as they walk across the room to the beat until he grabs her hand again for the rest of the choreography.  
“ _I'm in love with an uptown girl  
You know I can't afford to buy her pearls  
But maybe someday when my ship comes in  
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been  
And then I'll win_”  
She lands back in Reggie’s arms after Alex has send her off again, twirling.  
“ _And when she's walking  
She's looking so fine  
And when she's talking  
She'll say that she's mine  
She'll say I'm not so tough  
Just because  
I'm in love_"  
Reggie lets her go again, and the four of them get into their previous positions. June at the front, Alex and Reggie to each side but a little behind her and Luke right behind her. He’s tall enough to look into the mirror over June’s head.  
“ _With an uptown girl  
She's been living in her white bread world  
As long as anyone with hot blood can  
And now she's looking for a downtown man  
That's what I am_”  
June then turns around and backs up against the mirror, watching the boys finish off the choreography by themselves. All nailing it perfectly while still singing the lyrics.  
“ _Uptown girl  
She's my uptown girl  
You know I'm in love  
With an uptown girl  
My uptown girl  
You know I'm in love  
With an uptown girl  
My uptown girl  
You know I'm in love  
With an uptown girl  
My uptown girl  
You know I'm in love  
With an uptown girl_”  
Alex was right. This did cheer her up. A whole lot.  
She bursts out into cheers and applause as the boys pant and giggle. Luke places his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath.  
“This was hard!” he exclaims. June chuckles and hands him her water bottle, letting the boys take turns to rehydrate. “But so much fun!” Reggie and Alex hum in agreement.  
“You guys are natural dancers,” June compliments, wrapping her arms around Reggie’s waist and placing her head in the crook of his neck. “Thanks for cheering me up.” Her boyfriend hands the water bottle to Alex and then wraps his arms around her body as well, pressing a kiss to her hair.  
“Thanks for teaching us, Junie. This really was fun,” Alex says, handing her bottle back now.  
“Maybe we should do this again soon!” she suggests excitedly. The boys exchange panicked glances once again.  
“I don’t…” Alex lets out in a squeal, the way he always does. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get more out of us than this.” He warns her. June lets out a laugh upon hearing tis. He’s probably right. But it was still worth trying. Whatever they do, as long as they can spend time together, June will be happy.  


# 2020, Hollywood

“OK, seems like we’re closing the night out with one more group,” the guy – possibly showrunner or manager of this joint – says into the mic and then checks his clipboard. “Julie and the Fat Ones?” The crowd snickers, and June can’t help giggling either.  
“Luke,” she mutters under her breath, shaking her head in amusement. Julie walks up the stage and sits down behind the keyboard, placing her personalized microphone into the stand.  
“Hi,” she chuckles nervously as her voice sounds throughout the whole café. “It’s actually Julie and the Phantoms,” she corrects the man. June lets out a whoop, forgetting Julie can’t actually hear her and, from her perspective, no one is reacting to her talking. “OK.” She places her fingers on the beginning keys and then starts playing a beautiful melody. June’s eyes widen at the first notes of the song. She remembers that. It’s the song she and Luke wrote parts of together when they were on an energy high.  
“ _Hearts on fire  
We're no liars, so we say what we wanna say  
I'm awakened, no more faking  
So we push all our fears away_”  
June can’t help but mouth the words along and bask in the memory of her and Luke.  
“ _Don't know if I'll make it cause I'm falling under  
Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder_”  
Julie’s beautiful voice has attracted the attention of a couple people in the crowd. Though June’s memories from Rose and her memory with Luke writing the song begin to intertwine, she gets goosebumps all over her body.  
“ _I wanna fly  
Come alive  
Watch me shine_”  
June’s goosebumps multiply when the boys poof on the stage, now capturing the entire crowd’s attention. All while June’s jamming along, singing at the top of her lungs without anyone hearing her or seeing her. Being a ghost is pretty amazing.  
“ _I got a spark in me  
Hands up if you can see  
And you're a part of me  
Hands up if you're with me  
Now 'til eternity  
Hands up if you believe  
Been so long and now we're finally free _”  
The teenage popstar walks towards the middle of the stage and attaches her microphone to the stand, grabbing the tambourine she’d put on the stand’s hook, adding some bells to the song. Julie’s voice might be captivating, but June’s eyes are glued on one man only right now. Reggie. Her Reggie.  
“ _We're all bright now  
What a sight now  
Coming out like we're fireworks_”  
The boy she fell in love with back in 1992 is doing the thing he loves most and looks attractive doing it. This is her favorite version of Reggie. Completely confident and in his element. She doesn’t even notice walking up to his side of the stage.  
“ _Marching on proud  
Turn it up loud  
Cause now we know what we're worth_”  
He’s too busy rocking out to even notice her a couple feet away from him. When she glances over at Julie and Luke for a second, she can see sparks flying everywhere. Those two can’t keep their eyes off each other, that’s obvious. June knows Luke well enough to know when he has a crush. Like he did with Maya back in the day.  
“ _We know we can make it  
We're not falling down under  
Close my eyes and feel my chest  
Beating like thunder_”  
When Luke was into Maya back in the day, he used to sing to her like this too. She’d told June that one time, Luke asked her why she despised him so much, because they didn’t used to be friends, and that’s when Maya told him it was because of the way Abbigail looked at him. At first he didn’t understand it, but then he figured it out. Maya was gay and not giving into his charms wasn’t because she hated him, but because she didn’t like him that way and liked the girl that was into him.  
“ _I wanna fly  
Come alive  
Watch me shine_”  
Reggie jumps off Alex’s stage and hops towards his microphone for the backing vocals on the chorus. He’s now only a foot or two away from where June’s standing, and notices her. The smile that appears on his face is the most adorable, yet sexy thing June has ever witnessed. He even gives her a wink, which almost sends her completely.  
“ _I got a spark in me  
Hands up if you can see  
And you're a part of me  
Hands up if you're with me  
Now 'til eternity  
Hands up if you believe  
Been so long and now we're finally free_”  
He blows her a quick kiss before hopping across stage towards Luke where they share a mic, once again. Reggie knows how much she loves that, and she knows he’s now doing it for her sake.  
“ _I got a spark in me  
Hands up if you can see  
And you're a part of me  
Hands up if you're with me  
Now 'til eternity  
Hands up if you believe_”  
He skips back to his side of the stage, back to June.  
“ _Been so long and now we're finally free_ ”  
Taking her mic and stand with her, Julie leans closer to Luke as he meets her in the middle.  
“ _I got a spark in me”  
“I got a spark in me”  
“And you're a part of me_”  
Reggie and June make eye contact, exchanging a knowing look as the sparks fly off of the duo in the middle of the stage. Then, they shoot Alex the same look, which he returns with a smile.  
“ _And you're a part of me”  
“Now 'til eternity”  
“Now 'til eternity”  
“Been so long and now we're finally free_”  
Julie hits the high note flawlessly, sending even more shivers up June’s body, all while Reggie and Luke sing the chorus together. That gives her even more goosebumps. She loves Reggie’s voice so much and it’s a shame, she thinks, that he doesn’t get to sing that often.  
“ _I got a spark in me  
Hands up if you can see  
And you're a part of me  
Hands up if you're with me  
Now 'til eternity  
Hands up if you believe  
Been so long and now we're finally free_”  
They have sent the crowd into a partying frenzy. All of them are having the time of their lives, except for the girls in the colorful wigs. They do not seem too happy about the success Julie and The Phantoms has with this crowd.  
The boys play their very last notes while Julie finishes the song off with an adlib that wasn’t in the original song Luke and June wrote. But June loves it, nonetheless. It’s something Rose would’ve added too.  
“ _Finally free, yeah..._ ”  
The expression on Luke’s face speaks a thousand tales. June just knows that look. She knows it all too well. Luke Patterson, her best friend, is in love with Julie Molina. And she could not be happier about it.  
As the band takes a bow, June’s eye catches someone she’d rather not see. Caleb Covington. What’s he even doing here? Their eyes meet, and he gives her a knowing look. He wants to talk. June poofs out of the café and back in front of Caleb, the big magician, in an alley behind the café.  
“Enjoying yourselves, are we?” he asks her, drawing circles on his ring.  
“Yeah, they’re my friends and I love their music, so I thought ‘why not?’” she explains to him, jamming her hands into the pockets of her dungarees. Caleb chuckles smarmily. She hates it when he does that.  
“You’re not by any chance… I don’t know, just thinking of something… convincing them not to join our club, are you?” June stares at Caleb for a moment, thinking about what to say.  
“What? No!” Caleb raises his eyebrows. An idea pops into June’s head at that moment. “Why would I do that? If they join your club, I get to spend my entire afterlife with them.” Caleb hums.  
“For your own sake, I hope that’s true,” he says, and turns around to walk away from her.  
“I’m not going to stop seeing them, if that’s what you’re asking,” he turns his head ever so slightly, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “They were my friends before death. I’m not going to stop spending time with them.” A smirk tugs at Caleb’s lips.  
“I’m not asking you to,” he says and poofs out before June can add anything else. He’s planning something and she’s going to be caught in the middle of it. Just so long Reggie and the boys don’t get hurt, it’s going to be fine. She’s going to be fine.  
June pops out of the alley where she met Caleb and back into the café where the boys are hanging at the bar with Julie and her best friend, and a seemingly professional woman. June wants to ask Reggie what’s going on when Julie’s dad, June knows as Ray, calls her name.  
“It’s time to go home,” he says angrily.  
“What just happened?” June asks the boys when Julie runs off with her dad, leaving the boys with her best friend who can’t see them.  
“Julie was just busted by her dad when he’d told her specifically to stay in her room and study,” Reggie explains in his Reggie way. “You know, because she missed three classes the day after the dance we were supposed to play at and didn’t because we were at your club and then—” Alex cuts him off.  
“Reg, I love you, man, but we got to go and check up on her to see if she’s okay!”  
“Right! Of course!” They hurriedly gather all of their stuff, and then Reggie turns and kisses June on the lips quickly before poofing out with the guys. Now June’s stood there, eyes wide and mind fuzzy, with a girl who can’t see her and the lingering feeling of Reggie’s lips on hers. Not like she’s not used to it, but it’s been more than twenty years since they last kissed, so this feels a little…. Unusual. Nice, but unusual. Thank heavens no one can see her blushing like crazy right now. Thank heavens for Reggie.__


	10. First Kisses and Last Options

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June goes and visits the boys, mostly to have a talk with Reggie. Willie's back to spying on the boys and breaks Alex's heart. June, having none of that, gets angry at her new friend for hurting one of her oldest friends. The two figure out together what other options the boys have.  
> After the Julie and The Phantoms' gig at the Molina house, Willie and June speak to them, offering them the other possible option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scenes seen in the show are not mine and I don't own any of the rights to it. Only the adaptations to those scenes to fit with the story are mine.  
> Neither do I own the song in this chapter.  
> Song(s) used:  
> \- Express Yourself - Madonna (only a part of the chorus)  
> \- The Edge of Great - Julie and The Phantoms

# 2020, Los Feliz

Reggie realizes what he’s done late that night. He’s chilling with the boys in the studio when it suddenly dawns on him that he’d kissed June. He kissed June for the first time in twenty-six years. Twenty. Six. Years. How has he only realized it now?  
“I kissed June today…” he tells his friends, which just earns him a questionable look. “I haven’t kissed her in twenty-six years?” He gets up from the couch and starts pacing, suddenly as nervous as he was on their first date in 1992.  
“Dude, chill. I’m sure she didn’t mind?” offers Luke.  
“Yeah, I mean, you were head over heels for each other, I doubt dying took that away for her,” says Alex. But none of their words are very convincing to Reggie. He runs his hands through his hair while walking from one corner of the room to the other, muttering things to himself.  
“I don’t know, man. It’s been twenty-six years.” He stops and faces his friends, who are still scattered around on couches and armchairs. “Our first kiss in the afterlife should’ve been as special as our first kiss back in ‘92, but I had to go and ruin that.” He groans and rubs his hands over his face.  
“Go and talk to her, man. You’re just killing yourself like this,” Alex suggests with a worried smile on his face. Luke just nods his head agreeingly.  
“I don’t know. This is going to be weird. I just—I need to go for a walk or something.” Before the boys can say anything, Reggie poofs out of the garage and onto Malibu beach. He remembers coming here with June back in ‘92 and even more so in ‘93 and ‘94 until she died. Even after she died, he’d come here whenever he missed her or when he was stressed. The sound of the waves crashing into the shore always calmed him down. And mostly the memory of June’s beautiful, happy face whenever she watched the water come and go with the wind blowing her hair back as if she were in a shampoo commercial.  
Reggie chuckles at the memory before sitting down into the sand and looking out onto the ocean. After being with and not thinking about anyone else but that one girl for over twenty years, you’d think you’d have her figured out and you wouldn’t be nervous around her anymore. But it’s just the more than twenty years of being apart that’s killing Reggie at the moment. It feels like he doesn’t know her anymore. Like he has to get to know her all over again. And it’s stressing him out.  
By the time Reggie comes home to the Molina house again, Ray is already in the kitchen, cooking up an amazing breakfast for his entire family. The ghost boy chuckles as he approaches the very happy Ray. He’s singing songs and dancing around the kitchen as he’s grabbing some eggs from the fridge.  
“Morning, Ray,” Reggie greets without a reaction. “Cooking up some breakfast, are we?” The boy sighs as he decides to simply watch the man move around the kitchen with this happy-go-lucky attitude of his, just like he has done a couple of times before. “Hey, what would you do if your girlfriend has been dead for twenty-six years and then you see her again in the afterlife because you die too, and then you kiss her, but it’s not like a special kiss and more like a quick on-automatic-pilot peck?”  
“ _Don't go for second best, baby  
Put your love to the test  
You know, you know you've got to  
Make him express how he feels and maybe  
Then you'll know your love is real_”  
The singing weirdly sounds like an answer to his question. Express Yourself. Besides it being very accurate to the situation, it’s also one of the songs June sang on the day they met at the dance studios. He remembers how she would sing it explicitly to him, pointing at him and dancing around him. All while wrapping him around her finger, unbeknownst to her.  
“Thanks, Ray. That really does help!” he chuckles.  
“ _I got a spark in me  
Hands up if you can see  
And you're a part of me  
Hands up if you're with me_”  
He changes the song, just as Julie walks down the stairs and finds the two of them in the kitchen, Reggie now singing along, chuckling at how adorable Ray is when he’s in a really good mood. Julie raises her eyebrows upon seeing the sight in front of her.  
“This is new,” she says to both the guys in the kitchen, placing her black dress and backpack on a chair.  
“Yeah. I was in the mood for cooking some breakfast,” Ray replies, which makes Reggie chuckle.  
“He thought you were talking to him,” he says with the biggest smile on his face as if he wasn’t brooding over his relationship with June just a few minutes ago. “Me and your dad are pals now. It’s a little one sided, but it works.” Julie tries her hardest not to look directly at Reggie since it would look like she’s staring into the nothingness to her father.  
“Look, after the talk we had the other night, I was thinking that I may have cost you an opportunity with that manager. So, I was thinking—” Julie shakes her head, cutting him off.  
“Dad, no. I should’ve never snuck out,” she tells him honestly.  
“Let the man speak, he’s been stress-eating all week!” Reggie interferes the lifers’ conversation. “I don’t know where he puts it though –” he places his hands in front of Ray’s belly, “It’s like… firm!” Julie gives her ghost friend a knowing look before turning back to her dad.  
“I know, but I really want to support your band, so I called in some favors, and I booked you a local gig.” The smile on Ray’s face is the brightest and most excitement-filled one Julie has ever seen on her dad.  
“Best dad ever! What?!” Reggie exclaims, his excitement mirroring Ray’s.  
“Oh my gosh! Where? Did you call your buddy from Drakes?” Julie asks, deciding it was best to ignore Reggie. Ray’s lips are pressed together then, but his eyes are still wide and the excitement’s still beaming off of him.  
“Not quite,” he says, “I called Flynn, and she’s going to help us throw a party. Here. Tonight.” Julie’s mouth opens as her eyes dart over to Reggie, who’s giving her father a questionable glance.  
“Oh,” Julie brings out, “You booked us a gig at our house…”  
“Maybe I was a little early with the ‘best dad ever’ award,” Reggie says softly as if Ray would hear him if he screamed it.  
“All right, hear me out,” Ray starts, capturing both their attention. “You invite some of your friends over, you play with your band, and I’ll get some of my colleagues to put you on film. That way, you have something professional for your YouTube.” Julie chuckles, endeared at her father’s idea and excitement for this new project in her life.  
“You’d do that for me?” she asks him with a smile that reaches her ears.  
“Yeah!” Ray replies and grabs his empty coffee mug to put it in the sink for the dishes later.  
“Back to ‘best dad ever’! I’ll go tell the guys,” Reggie says, beaming, as he steps back, “Have a good day at work, Ray!” Reggie points at the man, who blatantly ignores him, unaware of his presence. “It’s cool. You don’t have to answer. Just…” He glances over at Julie, who’s watching him with an amused smile on her face, and then whooshes out of the kitchen and into the garage.  
A soft melody is playing from the piano, and when he takes a step closer, he realizes it’s none of the boys. But June.  
“Junebug, hey,” he captures her attention with his soft, slightly nervous-sounding voice. She gets up from the stool and walks around the side of the piano.  
“Hey, Reg… I—I can’t be here too long, but I… I wanted to see you.” A shy smile tugs at her lips. Reggie’s mouth curls up to as a huff escapes his lips. He’s relieved she still wants to see him after everything that has happened since they saw each other again. After last night.  
“Good, ‘cause I wanted to see you too,” he steps closer towards her until there’s barely any space left. A thing Reggie used to do when they were still alive. He couldn’t stand being too far away from her.  
A silence falls over the both of them as they just look at each other and bask in the fact that they’re here. Together. “I uhm… I wanted to say sorry for saying goodbye to you like that last night. I—I … It wasn’t meant to be like that…” June chuckles at how adorably nervous he is. It reminds her of that first day of meeting back in ‘92.  
“It’s okay. It kind of felt like we were back to our alive selves, you know?” Now Reggie lets out a chuckle, relieved she doesn’t resent him for not making that moment more special. “Made me realize what I’d been missing for twenty-six years.” He sniggers, pushing his hands deep inside his jean pocket since he has no clue what to do with them. He wants to hold her hand, like he always used to when they were alive. But he can’t do that. Not yet at least. Things are still a bit weird.  
“Crazy it’s been so long, huh?” he asks, chuckling nervously.  
“Yeah!” She doesn’t know what to do with herself either. All she wants to do is cuddle with him on the couch like they used to do back in the day. “So, what are you up to today?” she asks instead.  
“Uhm, not much. I just came in here to tell the guys we have a gig tonight,” he replies with a smile, then his face suddenly lights up with an idea. “You should come! And you should bring Willie!” June chuckles at his excitement. There’s the Reggie she knows and loves.  
“I have a show tonight at the Hollywood Ghost Club,” she replies with a pout. “But I might pop in when we’re done and maybe we’re still on time to see you guys perform. Where is it?” Reggie’s eyes dart from side to side. “The gig, babe. Where’s the gig?” If he’s surprised by the pet name, he doesn’t show.  
“Right! Right! Uhm, right here actually. Yeah, Ray had this idea to throw a party for Julie’s friends and then he’ll film it for our YouTuba, or something? I’m not sure what that is, though.”  
“Oh! I know that! It’s YouTube! It’s this platform online where people share videos of themselves! A lot of artists use it for their music videos nowadays.” Reggie raises his eyebrows at the girl in front of him, clearly impressed by her knowledge of modern day technology. “Natasha taught me that.” He nods his head understandingly at this.  
“How’s Natasha, by the way? And how are the twins?” June tilts her head and raises an eyebrow. “I’m kidding, Junebug.” Her eyes roll back as she shakes her head disapprovingly, but her smile says otherwise. With one smooth hop, she then jumps up on the piano.  
“Have you guys thought about Caleb’s offer?” she queries, wanting to see if she has to convince him not to take it. Reggie shrugs, placing his hands on June’s knees, tugging at the hem of her white knee-high socks. He likes her outfit today. White long-sleeved shirt with a pink tartan skirt, white socks and white Keds. It’s very Juniper Fray, he finds.  
“Yeah, we’re probably not going to do it. The band with Julie is what we’ve always wanted to be, you know?” He doesn’t look too happy with the decision he and the band made. He’s staring at his hands on June’s knee, no smile on his face.  
“Why so glum about it, chum?” she asks, trying to catch his glance, “This has been your dream, hasn’t it? Be a band with the boys, making your music, performing your music? Sure, you’re dead and you need Julie to actually make that dream come true, but it’s still your dream right?” He looks up at her now.  
“Yeah… but being with you and marrying you was also my dream,” June’s heart would’ve beaten faster now if she still had one. “You’re at Caleb’s club too, Junebug… And now I’m kind of torn between being with you forever at this club and being in a band forever with my best friends…” He stops fidgeting with June’s socks and places his hands on the piano instead.  
Back in ‘94, they did fantasize about their marriage. If things hadn’t gone like they have, the two would’ve been married now and have three teenagers moping around their house.  
June sighs and captures his face with her hands, making him look up at her whilst rubbing her thumbs in circles over his flustered cheeks. He looks at her with those sad eyes he only had whenever his parents were fighting again.  
“We could do both?” she suggests with a smile. “Until Caleb has me bound in chains, I’m still free to roam around and go wherever I want. I could come to gigs if I don’t have one myself. We could go out on dates like we used to? We’re ghosts, Reggie-poo. We can do whatever the heck we want!” He smiles at this, and even more so when she runs a hand through his hair. “You and me against the world, Reggie-poo,” she whispers. He places his hands over hers, then grabs one and presses a kiss to her palm.  
“You and me against the world, Junebug.” Now her mouth curls up into a wide, proud smile.  
“Forever.” She leans down and kisses him the way they should’ve kissed the first time after twenty-six years. Passionately. With sparks flowing everywhere. And their non-existent hearts pounding loudly.  
“Get a room!” The sudden, very familiar sound makes them giggle and pull away. Luke and Alex are stood a few feet away from the piano, looking at the couple in surprise.  
“So, you kissed her how you wanted now?” Alex asks Reggie with an amused smirk tugging at his lips.  
“Actually,” June says, pushing Reggie slightly, so she can slither down the piano. “I kissed him how he should’ve kissed me.” She pushes her hair over her shoulder as she walks over to the boys. “Hi,” she takes Alex into a hug first, then Luke.  
“We love a confident queen,” says Alex, which earns him raised eyebrows from everyone. “Something Flynn has said a couple of times,” he shrugs with an innocent look on his face.  
“In other news,” Reggie starts, joining the rest of the group and wrapping an arm protectively around June’s waist. “We got a gig tonight!” The boys’ faces light up instantly, eyes big and mouths agape.  
“Awesome, dude! Where?” Luke asks, patting Alex’s back excitedly.  
“Here!” Reggie replies ecstatically. The two others fall silent all of a sudden, their excitement washing away entirely. “Yeah, I know, that’s what I first though too. But! Julie’s going to invite a bunch of friends and Ray asked his colleagues to come and film, so we have something for our YouTube!” They’re still not convinced, mainly because they probably have no clue what YouTube is.  
“That’s a good thing,” June reassures them, “If Julie puts your video on YouTube and a lot of people watch it, a manager might find it and contact you.” The excitement is back now, and even increased to jumping around and high-fiving.  
“See! We don’t need Caleb!” shouts Luke, and then the three of them jolt as if an electric shock just went through them. Reggie retrieves his arm from June’s waist to grab his stomach in pain. June’s eyes widen. She knows what that is. Or at least, she thinks she does.  
“Are you okay?” she asks, placing a hand on Reggie’s shoulder and the other on his hands.  
“Yeah,” he replies, straightening up again with a groan. “I told you, it feels like that time I fixed my amp in the rain!” June looks up at him with a worried look on her face.  
“Oh, baby…” she huffs, shaking her head and rubbing his back.  
“We’ve been getting these since we came back from that club,” Alex informs her, rubbing his stomach.  
“It might be from the food we ate,” Luke chimes in.  
“But that was like days ago?” Alex reasons. June has to chime in. She needs to figure something out to save them before she can tell them anything about Caleb or these jolts they’re experiencing.  
“I had the same thing when I first ate at the club. It goes over, but lasts a lot longer than you’d like,” she chuckles nervously, playing around with the bracelets on Reggie’s wrists. “You’ll be fine.”  
“Hey, you want to stick around for practice? We’re just going to rehearse on our own since Julie’s boring and doesn’t want to ditch school,” Luke explains, and tries to stay as impartial as he can, but June can tell he’s bummed out about it.  
“Oh, I don’t want to intrude…” Luke tilts his head a little, as if saying ‘really?’  
“Come on, stay, Junebug! Please?” Reggie begs whilst grabbing his bass and moving to the sofa with it.  
“We’re just going to find the rhythm and melody for this song Julie and I wrote together.” The man literally can’t go one second without mentioning her name. He’s crazy for her.  
“Alright then.” June moves to the sofa where she sits down next to Reggie in the corner, her legs draped across one of his as he needs his other one to balance his bass on. While Luke and Reggie pluck the strings of their instruments in search for a good melody, Alex taps his drumsticks on his legs. June isn’t entirely sure how that’s going to help him, but then again, she knows nothing about drums except for the things he’d learned her back in ‘93.  
“Look, we add the echoes during the chorus, then when Julie comes in with her melody, it’s going to be perfect.” Reggie and June exchange knowing glances while Luke just beams as he looks at the song on paper. Even Reggie and Alex exchange a glance, both chuckling. June wants to chime in and comment about it but is interrupted when a distant thud captures their attention. June, Reggie and Alex look up at the door, Luke being too distracted by the song, and find Willie peeking inside. The girl’s jaw clenches, knowing exactly what he’s doing here.  
“Again?” Reggie asks, which makes June relax, “What’s that all about?”  
“I don’t know,” Alex says and poofs out to stop the skater boy. June’s getting more and more nervous with the second. If they’re both here, Caleb’s definitely going to find out and they’re going to be strapped in at the club, unable to poof out anymore. That’s it for her dates with Reggie.  
“Do you know what that’s about?” Reggie asks June, who’s taken on the habit of playing with Reggie’s hair again. She shakes her head in response, blatantly lying to her boyfriend.  
“No clue,” she whispers. Willie needs to find a way to tell them what’s been happening, and maybe he’s doing that now. If not, they’re going to have to come up with something because she can’t keep lying to them about the jolts or what she knows about Caleb.  
Alex storms in through the door and takes his spot behind the drums. Luke, Reggie and June glance at each other. Something happened between the two of them and it doesn’t seem too good.  
“Hey, Lex, you okay?” June asks as she and the boys get up from the couch. Alex angrily hits some toms and a couple of cymbals, then throws his sticks away, groaning in frustration.  
“I don’t know what’s happening. So much is changing and then when I think I finally found someone really great, he tells me we never should’ve met.” The sadness and anger and hurt is apparent in his voice. June hates seeing him like that. It’s the exact same expression he had when his parents were being homophobic after he told them he was gay.  
“He said what?!” June’s voice grows in volume. “I swear to God, if this boy doesn’t—” she mutters something the boys don’t comprehend before poofing out of the garage without saying goodbye.  
“Hey!” Reggie shouts to no one in particular, upset he didn’t get a kiss now that they’re back in that stage. Almost as though she’d heard that, June poofs back in, kisses her boyfriend passionately, yells goodbye at the boys, and then poofs out again. “She can’t do that to me, dammit!” Luke and Alex chuckle at his frustrated reaction, but then they decide to let it go and start rehearsing anyway. 

“How dare you hurt my friend like that?!” she startles Willie by poofing in, right in front of him. He nearly falls off his board but can quickly regain his balance.  
“Jeez, Ju, if I still had a heart, I’d have a heart attack!” he chuckles, trying to laugh off the situation. June raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms, letting him know she’s serious. He sighs and picks up his skateboard. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, June…” June uncrosses her arms when she sees him tearing up slightly. “If I keep seeing him, if I keep talking to him, I’m just going to get him hurt more. Caleb’s been acting really strange lately, and I’m really scared he’s going to do something to them.”  
“You really care about him, don’t you?” she asks, her voice now softer.  
“Yes!” he whisper-shouts desperately. “I wish there was something I could do for him, but this is out of my hands… I—” He sniffles, which is enough of a sign for June to wrap her arms around him and take him in for a hug. She lets him cry as she thinks over the possible things they could do for the boys. The other dancers did say there’s no escaping Caleb’s curse. And she did overhear Rachel talking to a lifer about the unfinished business she’s not going to do because she doesn’t want to cross over.  
“What happens when you finish your unfinished business?” June asks Willie as she pulls away from him.  
“You cross over…” Willie replies. June hums while the gears in her non-existent brain start working.  
“And what happens when you cross over? You go to heaven?” Willie nods his head as he’s wiping his tear-stained cheeks  
“Or, you know, hell…” June chuckles at that.  
“So, if the boys were to do their unfinished business, would they cross over and be free of Caleb’s curse?” The boy’s eyes widen at that, as does his smile. Once again, the skater boy is beaming again. The exact same way he did when they first met.  
“That’s it!” he snaps his fingers and points at her. “I need to check with Natasha and some other crew members at the club, but I think that might work!” June nods her head determinedly, ready to save her boys from their doom of playing jazz music at a ghost club for eternity.  
“Ooh! Can we pop by the Molina’s house after tonight’s performance?” Willie tilts his head at her in confusion. “The boys are playing a gig with Julie tonight. Don’t want to miss it.” He nods his head agreeingly and opens his mouth to say something else, but they’re both poofed into the Hollywood Ghost Club. June’s back in her yellow dress, still standing next to Willie. The two nod at each other before springing into action. Willie will go and ask Natasha about the crossing over, while June asks some of the musicians in the house band. This will work. They’re certain of it. 

After the show at the Hollywood Ghost Club and having found the information needed, the two ghosts poof into the party that’s in full swing by now. They sit down on a couple of rocks, watching over the entire performance from a bird’s perspective. Julie’s on top of the grand piano, the band behind her.  
“ _Shout, shout  
C'mon and let it out, out  
Don't gotta hide it  
Let your colors blind their eyes  
Be who you are no compromise  
Just shout, shout  
C'mon and let it out, out  
What doesn't kill you makes you feel alive  
Ooh-oh_”  
Luke walks over to Julie, playing a bone-chilling guitar riff to capture her attention. She looks down at him, and the brightest smile appears on the guitarist’s face.  
“ _I believe  
I believe that we're just one dream  
Away from who we're meant to be  
That we're standing on the edge of great_”  
June gets shivers all across her body that’s made of air, from the high note Julie hits so flawlessly. All while the boys lapse into the chorus again.  
“ _Something big, something crazy  
Our best days are yet unknown  
That this moment is ours to own_”  
Julie now jumps off the piano and walks back to the stool behind it, adlibbing her way through the song with the boys as backing vocals with the chorus.  
“ _’Cause we're standing on the edge of great  
On the edge of great”  
“Great, on the edge of great”  
“On the edge, woah-oh”  
“Great, on the edge of great”  
“'Cause we're standing on the edge of..._”  
Alex and Reggie poof out at this moment when Luke’s walking up to Julie. They want to give the two some privacy as they sing the last part of the song with just the piano as guidance. They’re staring into one another’s eyes, completely forgetting about the world around them.  
“ _Running from the past  
Tripping on the now  
What is lost can be found, it's obvious_”  
Luke now poofs out too, making Julie jump a little, as the crowd bursts into applause and cheers, Willie and June included. June can’t help but feel incredibly proud of the boys. They’ve found their sound with Julie. And it’s more than perfect. There’s nowhere else they should be than with her. 

Willie hasn’t moved since the party ended and everyone had gone home. The Molinas and Flynn had rolled the piano back inside the garage before heading inside to order pizza. All while being watched by June and Willie from their spot on the rocks up high.  
“Ready, Will?” June asks when the boys are outside the garage, throwing a basketball around. He nods his head before the two of them poof down from the rocks. June feels a little giddy to see Reggie again. She hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the dates she’d like to go on with him now that they can do that again. Maybe they should go and see if Iggy’s still open.  
“Feels like we should be celebrating or something. What do you guys want to do?” Reggie asks the boys and throws Luke the ball at the same time the electric shock jolts through them again. Luke and Reggie both go down while Alex shrivels, grabbing his stomach.  
“Not that,” Alex comments as he recomposes.  
“That wasn’t like the other ones. It’s getting worse,” says Luke as he gets up from the ground. Reggie does the same, but bends forward to breathe again properly, with his hands on his knees.  
“Why is this happening to us?” Reggie queries. Willie sees this as his cue to walk in. With his arms crossed, he steps into the boys’ view, June in tow.  
“It’s because you guys are in serious trouble,” he says, capturing their attention.  
Alex takes a few steps towards him, “Willie?”  
“June?” Reggie adds, a little confused as though why his girlfriend and her friend look so worried.  
“We need to talk,” Willie tells them.  
“But not here,” June adds, not wanting to bring the Molinas in trouble. Caleb could track them down and cause some serious trouble to them too if he finds them here. “Sunset Boulevard, let’s go.” The boys nod curtly and all five of them poof out and away from the Molina’s house and onto the Strip.  
“What’s going on, Junebug?” Reggie asks, grabbing her hand.  
“Remember when I told you those jolts you’re getting were from the food you ate at the club?” she asks. The tone in her voice scares Reggie a little. She sounds so fragile, so broken and scared. “I lied…” Reggie’s grip on her hand loosens.  
“Let’s take a walk,” Willie suggests and begins walking up the Strip. Reggie gives June a cold, disappointed glance before following the boys. She inhales deeply and then falls into step with them. “That stamp Caleb gave you? There’s a curse attached to it. He only ever gives it to people that cross him or if he needs them for his own benefit. It gives them a reason to come back because there’s no other way of stopping it,” he explains to them. It shuts them up for a little, as though they’re mulling it over to try and make it make sense.  
“All these jolts that we’re feeling is because Caleb put that stamp on us?” Luke asks for clarification.  
“He’s threatened by you. He wants you under his control,” says Willie. June doesn’t even dare to chime in anymore. She can feel the coldness growing inside of Reggie, and she’s scared to make it worse. “I mean, you’re the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help.”  
“And you let him do that to us?” Alex asks as all three boys stop, which causes June to bump into Reggie. Willie halts too and turns around to face the boys, June quickly joining by his side.  
“I can’t stop him. He owns my soul,” Willie replies, then glances at June, “He owns both our souls.” Reggie’s eyes dart over to June. He looks scared. Not only for his own safety, but for June’s too.  
“He owns everybody’s soul at that club…” June chimes in with a soft voice.  
“Yeah, if he even knew we were here talking to you, he…” he sighs, “He would destroy us…”  
“So, if we don’t join his club, the weird power outage thing continues until there’s no power left at all?” Reggie asks, crossing his arms nervously.  
“Yes,” Willie replies.  
“What exactly happens when the power goes out?” He looks over at June, who’s staring at the ground, trying her hardest not to cry. She knew she should’ve stopped Willie from bringing the boys to the club. She knew they’d get hurt.  
“That’s it… You—you’re done,” answers Willie.  
“Uh-huh. Yeah. And what exactly do you mean by “we’re done”?” Reggie’s sassy side comes up now, which makes June look up at him.  
“You don’t exist anymore. Not anywhere,” she tells them what she’d heard the people at the club say. Reggie’s crossed arms loosen as he witnesses a single tear roll off his girlfriend’s cheek.  
“What?” Alex’s eyes dart from Willie to June and back.  
“So we have no choice?” Luke asks, stepping forward as his anger rises within him. “We have to say goodbye to Julie, give up everything we built together, say goodbye to you again, June, and work for Caleb?” More tears escape from June’s eyes as she gives them an apologetic look, hoping that’d be enough for them. Willie doesn’t say anything either. “That’s some club you guys got going on.”  
“But there is another option. That’s why we’re here!” Willie’s voice grows louder as he becomes more and more impatient and desperate.  
“Another option?” Alex asks, not wanting to hear anymore from this guy who broke his heart mere hours ago.  
“Just, please, hear me out?” Willie begs, which captures the boys’ attention again. “All right. If you guys could figure out what your unfinished business is, you do it in time, you could cross over and be free from all of this.”  
“OK, so what’s our unfinished business?” Luke queries, glancing over at June for more information.  
“I don’t know, but since you all died at the same time, it might be something you need to do together,” Willie says instead of her. She can’t do anything but stand there, scared about what’s going to happen to them. Scared she’ll loose them again.  
“Why should we listen to a word you say?” Alex becomes defensive, remembering what happened earlier that day. June can feel Willie tensing up. She grabs his hand and squeezes it, knowing that helped Reggie a lot whenever he needed it.  
“Because I care about you, Alex,” he says, his voice cracking, “And I hate that I brought you and your friends, June’s friends, into this mess.” That renders the boys completely silent. “I uh, I can’t be away much longer. I’m so sorry,” his lips quivers, “For everything.” June lets go of Willie’s hand, so she can have a minute more with her boys when he poofs away.  
“You knew about this, Junebug?” Reggie asks, which sends more tears down her cheeks.  
“I knew what Caleb was capable off and I tried to stop Willie from bringing you to the club, but he promised nothing would happen…” she sniffles. “I’m so, so sorry, guys. I really am.” She glances at each of them one more time before poofing out too.  
“June—no, wait!” Reggie yells, but it’s too late. He rubs his forehead in distress while Alex takes a step forward and turns around to face the boys.  
“This is all my fault,” he says and Reggie sighs. “I-I met Willie, Willie introduced us to Caleb, and now… Now we’re screwed…”  
“We all wanted to go see Caleb,” Luke corrects him, which is reassuring in a way.  
“We have to tell Julie,” Reggie chimes in.  
“No, we can’t do that. This just means more loss in her life,” Luke shoots down the suggestion. “But if we don’t want Caleb to own our souls, then we have to figure out what our unfinished business is.”  
“Yeah, man, and how are we supposed to do that? All right?” Alex asks, getting more and more anxious, and it shows in the tone of his voice. “There was so much we wanted to do.” Luke’s eyes dart from the floor to scanning Alex’s body and face until something above him catches his eye. Alex, noticing this, asks, “What is it?”  
“But the night we died there was one thing we wanted to do together,” he says whilst walking a little past Alex, looking up at something. Alex turns around and Reggie comes to stand beside him, all looking up too. The bright lights of The Orpheum flicker in the night sky, suddenly threateningly.  
“The Orpheum?” Reggie asks, being reminded of that one fateful night.  
“Getting that gig was literally impossible,” says Alex, “Even after people knew who we were, we had to hustle, call in every favor we had. It took us years.” They jolt again at that moment, all three of them flinching back in pain.  
“We don’t have years.”


	11. Unsaid Emily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June and Reggie talk about the whole Caleb-thing, and when Reggie asks her afterwards what her favorite Sunset Curve song was, the girl has a flashback to 1994. Luke tells Julie about the unfinished business thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware Luke ran away at Christmas in 1994 and June dies in October of that year, but let's just pretend Luke ran away in September or something, yeah? Okay.  
> Once again, I do not own any of these characters except for June Fray and her parents. Nor do I own the music featured in this chapter.  
> Songs used: Unsaid Emily - JATP

# 2020, Malibu

Reggie doesn’t know what to do with himself. There’s no one around to talk to. Alex has gone off somewhere to think while Luke has probably gone back to visit his parents. Reggie had no one to talk to. He didn’t even want to talk to June, though she used to be the person he’d turn to first. Right now, though, he didn’t even feel like talking to her. It would just mean having to say goodbye to her again.  
Instead of staying in the garage and playing around with his bass, he decides to go and visit an old friend. Iggy. He hasn’t been there since the night June died. He just couldn’t bring himself to. Iggy had sent him a condolences card and came to June’s funeral. But after that, he didn’t see the man again.  
Arriving at the karaoke place, Reggie finds the building empty. No flickering ‘Iggy’s’ sign, no music coming from inside. It’s empty, aside from the ‘for sale’ sign in front of the building.  
With a deep sigh, Reggie turns and lowers himself to the sand, looking out onto the sea. He used to love coming to the beach, even after June died. It seemed like the only thing of hers that stayed with him. The beach and the jacket she wore the night she died.  
As that thought enters his head, he wraps said jacket closer around his body. The police had given the jacket back to June’s parents, and they handed it to Reggie, knowing all-too-well it was his. They also knew it’s what he needed to grief the loss of his girlfriend.  
“I thought I might find you here,” June’s voice suddenly reaches his ears. He looks up at her but doesn’t say a word. He’s scared of saying the wrong thing and ruining everything before even figuring out how to do their unfinished business.  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks after a good minute of silence. June sits down next to him, and inhales deeply. Everything feels different all of a sudden. This is not how they interacted with each other. Ever.  
“I didn’t know how…” she starts. “I found out about Caleb’s powers the night before you guys came to the Hollywood Ghost Club and when I heard Willie was planning on bringing you there, I got scared. I begged him to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt, and he promised me… Then of course, Caleb had to stamp you. Willie promised me you wouldn’t get hurt, but you got hurt after all. And I lied about the stamps because I didn’t know how to break the news to you that you had to choose between joining the club and vanishing forever.” A tear rolls down June’s cheek, and she quickly wipes it away.  
“I’d rather be in Caleb’s club with you than vanish, June,” he states, not daring to look at her. He could see from the corner of his eyes that you’d wiped away a tear, he can’t handle seeing you sad.  
“But that’s not what you really want, Reg… I—I had to find a way to save you from both those options. I had to figure something out because Caleb’s club is not the eternity you want, or anyone wants.”  
“So, you can join his club, but I can’t?” he asks, his tone sharp, “That’s top-notch hypocrisy, June.”  
“That’s not… That’s not what it is, Reg. I didn’t have a choice, okay?” Tears are rapidly rushing down your cheeks now as you think about that first day with Caleb. “I went to him to ask for help to get you guys out of Limbo Headquarters and he ambushed me with the question to join his dance crew. I couldn’t say no. I physically couldn’t say no. Caleb had me enchanted or something because I wanted to say no and just walk off, but I said yes without wanting to.” Reggie now finally turns his head and the sight almost feels nostalgic. The wind is blowing through June’s blonde locks, and though she’d normally have a smile on her face watching the waves crash onto shore, she still looks breath-takingly beautiful with the tears running down. “He literally took my soul, gave me a gorgeous outfit and told me he’d talk to the managers at Limbo Headquarters to help you guys out, and then ran along. I had no way of getting to you, but I had this new family of people that loved the same things I did and went through somewhat the same things with dying, you know? I really thought I was finally safe. I thought I was safe and could somewhat enjoy this new afterlife. But then I hear those things about Caleb, and I realize I completely messed up…” she chuckles tearily and looks up at the boy beside her. His eyes are glazed over, his expression worried. “And now I’ve pulled you and the guys into that mess too… I—” Her voice cracks as more tears begin to fall. “I’m so sorry, Reg…” He finally caves in and wraps an arm around her, pulling her into him. While she rests her head on his shoulder, he rubs her back comfortingly.  
“It’s okay, Junebug. We’re going to figure this out…” He presses a kiss to her head, wondering if he’s reassuring his girl or himself. People always say “Rest in Peace” when someone dies. But this afterlife isn’t as peaceful as Reggie once thought it would be.  
“How terrible is it, by the way, that Iggy’s closed?” she mutters, breaking the silence that had fallen comfortably around them. “I heard it’s been closed down since ’95…” She sits up again now to look into Reggie’s eyes for his reaction. He blinks a couple of times, processing the new piece of information.  
“You don’t think…” he starts but stops himself before really saying anything.  
“His two favorite customers were dead, I would want to close my joint too,” June states with a sad smile.  
“Yeah, but… We only ever paid half of the price for a booth?” he reasons, and it makes her chuckle. Iggy’s really was their spot. It’s the place they first kissed, the place they first really spend time together, the place they… “Sure he didn’t get much profit out of us?!” June finds his passion for the place endearing; she doesn’t finish her thought about their times at Iggy’s.  
“Maybe he just missed us too much?” She wraps her arms around her knees as she pulls them to her chest and rests her chin on them. Now that she’s a ghost, she can sit however she wants, even when she’s wearing a dress like today and her underwear would probably be on show like this. No one will see and tell her to ‘sit properly, like a lady’.  
“Yeah, maybe,” Reggie agrees, nodding his head. He looks at her for a moment, basking in her presence. He thought he didn’t want to see her or talk to her today, but she completely proved him wrong. She’s all he ever needs. Even if that means joining a creepy dude’s club. “June…” he captures her attention.  
“Yeah?” She watches as he glances down at her lips and back up at her eyes. It takes him a while. “What?” she giggles, not used to him staring at her like that anymore.  
“I—I’m scared?” The statement comes out as a question. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and it scares the hell out of me. Because we have to say goodbye to you and Julie if we cross over, and I don’t know if I’m even going to be with the boys when we go to heaven. I don’t know if I can handle saying goodbye to you again and add saying goodbye to Julie in the mix… I—I don’t know anything, June… And it scares me…” June turns to face him and cups his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.  
“I get that you’re scared, baby, but… You have to do this. You have to do your unfinished business and cross over. It’s what’s best for you and the boys. Now, I don’t know what happens on the other side either, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re so resilient and so brave. And I need you to be both for me, okay? I need you to be brave and do this thing, and cross over.” She rubs her thumb across his rosy cheeks in circles, a small smile tugging at his lips. “You can do this, Reggie-Poo.”  
“Can’t you cross over with us?” Reggie then asks, taking one of her hands off his cheek and holding it.  
“I-I don’t know what my unfinished business is, so… no…” She takes her other hand away too, realizing she never really thought about that since she was so busy dancing for Caleb.  
“Your accident was a hit-and-run, maybe you need to figure out who hit you?” he suggests, twirling the rings around her fingers. Back in the day, he wished he could add a ring to that finger. He still wishes he could do that.  
“I don’t know, Reggie… I don’t think I can with Caleb owning my soul?”  
“You could try? For me? Maybe we could be together in heaven or something! That would be a neat spot to marry you…” His eyes widen when he realizes what he’s blurted out, but upon seeing June’s tender expression, he knows he didn’t say anything wrong.  
“I could ask Natasha if that’s an option?” She suggests and it makes Reggie light up entirely. He presses kisses to her fingers before she grabs his face and kisses him on the lips. Then, a silence falls over the both of them as June rests her head in the crook of his neck again.  
“Junebug?”  
“Mmh?”  
“What’s your favorite Sunset Curve song?”  
She doesn’t look up at this question, she just answers, “Now or Never… Or Unsaid Emily…”

# 1994, Los Feliz 

“Hey, baby,” Reggie kisses June in greeting as she lets him enter the house. It’s a Saturday afternoon, and they’ve decided to hold a study date in preparation for a test next week. It’s normally not something they do together over the weekend, but June has been so stressed over this test, Reggie had to promise her he’d help her study.  
He walks into the living room where your parents are dusting the shelves and having a general tidy around with music blasting. It’s been a traditional Saturday afternoon tradition at the Fray household ever since June was little. Reggie knows this by now and doesn’t go any further than the threshold.  
“Good afternoon, Fred and Dot!” he greets, shouting over the music whilst raising a hand in a wave. The two look up and Fredrick lowers the volume on the stereo while Dianne makes her way over to take him in for a hug.  
“How are you, Reggie?” she asks, placing a hand on his cheek affectionately. June joins him by his side, grabbing his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers.  
“I’m good. How are things here?” he shoots back at Dianne, “Has the Saturday afternoon tradition started already?” Dianna nods her head with the brightest smile on her face.  
“You want to join?” Fredrick asks, clearly jokingly. He asks him that every time he’s around on Saturday.  
“I’d love to, but I promised your daughter I’d help her study for the math test this week.” He looks down at his girlfriend with tender eyes.  
“Right! Good luck with that, you know how she is when it comes to numbers,” her father jokes again, laughing. June lets out a whine. “I’m sorry, honey. You know I’m joking!” His daughter gives him a sharp glare, warning him to not say anything else about her math abilities.  
“Now, off you go!” her mother ushers them both to the stairs. “Good luck, sweeties!” she shouts after them as they rush up the stairs. Once in June’s room, Reggie grabs her by the hand and yanks her towards him. She loses her balance a little, falling into his arms with a squeal escaping her.  
“What are you doing?!” she asks, giggling. With her hands on his chest, she looks up at him with questions and delight in her eyes.  
“This,” he replies and dips down to meet her for a deep, passionate kiss.  
“Since when are you so smooth, Reginald?” she asks teasingly when they break apart.  
“You bring out the best in me, Junebug.” After kissing his girl once more, he leads her towards the bed where they settle with their books sprawled out.  
It works out great with him explaining everything she needs to know and her trying to solve some of the problems up until he starts rewarding her with kisses. Those small pecks quickly turn into full make-out sessions, the math problems long-forgotten.  
“Juniper!” her mother shouts from downstairs. June pulls away from Reggie’s lips, listening to what her mother has to say. “Luke’s on the phone for you!” The two teenagers glance at each other, both wondering the same thing. They get off the bed and make their way downstairs where her mother hands the phone. She holds the horn so that Reggie can hear too.  
“Hey, Luke, what’s up?” she asks, worry growing within her. Luke normally never calls on a Saturday.  
“Hey, is Reggie with you?”  
“Yeah, I’m here, man. What’s wrong?” Reggie, too, can tell from the sound of Luke’s voice that something is wrong. He doesn’t sound like his normal, excited self.  
“Can you guys come to Bobby’s garage? I’m calling an emergency band meeting.” Reggie and June glance at each other as if trying to find the answer to what’s going on with Luke would be in each other’s eyes. Saturdays are normally off the table for band stuff, unless it’s a gig.  
“Uhm, yeah, man. Sure!” Reggie replies.  
“We’ll be there in ten,” June adds. They bid their goodbyes and hang up the phone. “That’s weird…”  
“What’s weird, honey? Is Luke okay?” Dianne asks, having overheard half of the conversation.  
“We’re not sure. He called an emergency meeting,” June explains whilst grabbing a jacket from the hook on the wall. “We’ll be back in time for movie night.” Her mother simply nods, encouraging her daughter to go and help her friend with whatever he needs. Something really is wrong, and June has no clue what. 

“Hey Alex,” June greets when they meet him outside the garage. They’ve arrived at the very same time.  
“Hey, guys!” he gives them a wave and a smile. “You know what this is about?” June and Reggie both shake their heads before heading inside where they find Luke and Bobby already. Luke has his acoustic guitar strapped around him and is chatting to Bobby. Nothing seems too off about the boys, so June decides to look around the garage for any clues. Luke’s notebook lies open on the coffee table, there’s a sleeping bag and a few extra pillows on the couch.  
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Luke greets with a small smile tugging at his lips.  
“Luke… What’s going on?” June asks straight away. There’s a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach as her brain is connecting all the dots and forming ideas about what’s going on. Her best guess would be Luke having had a fight with his parents and coming to crash here.  
“I—uhm… I had a fight with my parents last weekend, so I stayed here…” he explains with a shrug.  
“But you’re going back, right?” June knows running away from home would be very out of character. The silence that follows speaks about a thousand more tales. “Luke…” She relaxes her furrowed brow, staring at him with worry filling up her eyes.  
“My folks always regretted buying me that first guitar, June, you know that… They just kept being in the way of the band… This is what I’m meant to do, guys. With you…” The boys simply nod their heads. “I wrote a song though and I couldn’t wait to show you, so…” He starts strumming his guitar softly, ready to show his best friends.  
_“First things first  
We start the scene in reverse  
All of the lines rehearsed  
Disappeared from my mind_”  
June goes to take a seat on the couch with Reggie while Bobby stays put in the armchair and Alex moves to another armchair.  
“ _When things got loud  
One of us running out  
I should have turned around  
But I had too much pride_”  
June already knows who this song is about. She knows Luke well enough to know he wouldn’t want to run away from his parents, especially his mother. He loved her too much for that. But this was a necessity. To save his career.  
“ _No time for goodbyes  
Didn't get to apologize  
Pieces of a clock that lies broken_”  
His voice gets even more vulnerable during the chorus, the intensity of his words hitting his audience hard. June could almost literally feel her heart break in pieces.  
“ _If I could take us back  
If I could just do that  
And write in every empty space  
The words I love you in replace  
Then maybe time would not erase me_”  
The boys make their way to their instruments to back Luke up while June stays, staring at the very broken Luke in front of her.  
“ _If you could only know  
I never let you go  
And the words I most regret  
Are the ones I never meant to leave  
Unsaid Emily_”  
The boys start to play along on their instruments, giving the song more reason to impact a listener.  
“ _Silent days  
Mysteries and mistakes  
Who'd be the first to break  
Guess we're alike that way_”  
Luke offers a thankful smile to each of the boys, then turns back to June, who has tears already rolling down her chin as she watches the boys and listens so intently.  
“ _He said, she said  
Conversations in my head  
And that's just where they're gonna stay forever_”  
June’s small, teary, encouraging smile offers Luke a boost to sing at the top of his lungs, letting out all his emotions.  
“ _If I could take us back  
If I could just do that  
And write in every empty space  
The words I love you in replace  
Then maybe time would not erase me  
If you could only know  
I never let you go  
And the words I most regret  
Are the ones I never meant to leave  
Unsaid Emily_”  
The boys lapse into a bridge of ‘ah’s, along with Luke himself. All while June’s sobbing on the couch from the overwhelming emotions she’s feeling inside her. She tightly clutches the pillow Luke had been sleeping on for about a week. His scent is still on it, which calms June down a little.  
“ _If I could take us back  
If I could just do that  
And write in every empty space  
The words I love you in replace  
Then maybe time would not erase me  
If you could only know  
I never let you go  
And the words I most regret  
Are the ones I never meant to leave  
Unsaid Emily_”  
The boys play a few more notes before ending the song. They exchange glances for a moment, all four of them knowing this is a really great song even if it comes from Luke’s pain. June, sitting on the couch, wipes her tears and sniffles a couple more times.  
“God dammit, Patterson,” she mutters before getting up to walk over to Luke. He pulls his guitar on his back, knowing what she’s up to, and lets her take him in for a bone-crushing hug. “I hope you get to show this to her one day. She’ll love this,” she whispers into his ear.  
“Thanks, Junie,” he whispers back and presses a kiss to the top of her head before letting go. “I know Saturdays are big in the Fray household, so you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” June glances at Reggie, trying to figure out together what to do. From one simple look from her boyfriend, she knows exactly what to do.  
“No, we’re going to stay,” June turns back to Luke, offering him a smile, and then turns to Bobby, “Can I use your phone to call my folks, though?” Bobby nods his head and leads June into the house.  
For the first time in many years, Juniper didn’t spend her Saturday with her parents, but with her best friends instead. It’s a nice change for once, and all you did was jam for a while and end the night in a big cuddle huddle on Luke’s couch. The perfect night ever.

# 2020, Los Feliz

Little did June know Julie had gone to Luke’s parents and show them the song he wrote for his mother back in the day. And now, he’s waiting for her return on the patio, toying around with the blue lucky rabbit’s foot his grandfather gave him once.  
“Hey,” she says, clasping her hands behind her back.  
“Hey,” he greets back, dropping the rabbit’s foot. Julie presses her lips together, trying to find the right words to say to him as she approaches him cautiously.  
“I’m sorry for overstepping.” She joins him on the patio.  
“No, I… I just had to leave,” he walks closer to her, “That was…”  
“You don’t have to say anything,” she reassures him.  
“Yeah, I do, uhm…” he glances off into the distance, trying to figure out a way to thank her. “I didn’t have many regrets in my life except for running out on my parents. Especially my mom. So… Thank you.” Julie looks up at him, a tender smile plastered on her face.  
“You helped me feel more connected to my mom, so I wanted to do the same for you.”  
“That was perfect.” He reaches out his hand for her to take. She carefully places it in his, but instead goes right through him. She coughs awkwardly, turning away from him and looking out onto the street instead, avoiding all eye contact. Luke does the same whilst saying, “This is an interesting little relationship you and I have,” with the cutest, most tender smile on his face. Julie looks up at him, her smile mirroring his.  
“Oh my Gosh! I almost forgot to tell you!” Julie then changes the subject into something more exciting. “Flynn said that the video that my dad made is trending on YouTube.” Luke gives her a questioning look, still unsure about this whole YouTube thing. “That’s a good thing. That means people love our music. We’ll definitely be getting calls from managers now.” Luke looks over at Julie as she has her eyes on the street. He bites his lip, debating whether or not he should tell her, and how she should tell her.  
“There’s something I have to tell you…” Julie’s wide eyes look up at him, worry filling them in an instant.  
“Oh… Okay,” she says, turning to face him.  
“We figured out that we have unfinished business,” he starts cautiously, “That’s why we came back as ghosts.” He pauses, wanting to see her reaction. She visibly swallows a lump and nods her head understandingly while letting an “Oh” roll off her lips.  
“What is it?” she asks.  
“We have to play the show we never got to play,” he replies, raising his shoulders in a slow shrug.  
“At the Orpheum? That makes sense.” Before either of them can say anything else, a jolt buzzes through Luke so hard, he stumbles back against a pilar behind him. Julie stares at him, worry and confusion flooding through her.  
“We don’t have a lot of time,” he says, panting from the impact and intensity of the jolt.  
“What was that? Are you okay?” she takes a step closer to him, towering over him now as he’s bend over and leaning against the wood.  
“We did something that we shouldn’t have. The night we missed the dance, we met this ghost and he put this curse on us. And if we don’t do what he says, then those jolts will destroy us,” he explains to the best of his abilities, trying to remember everything Willie and June told them.  
“Then you got to do what he says. What does he want?” Julie pushes on as more worry fills her brain.  
“He wants us to be in his house band for eternity,” Luke replies, looking up at the girl in front of him, scared of what she’ll say or do. He stands up again, towering over Julie now, like he used to. “But if we can play the Orpheum soon, then we can avoid all that and actually cross over.”  
“Cross over?” Julie asks, unfamiliar with ghost lingo. “As in, like what? Go to heaven?”  
“I mean, that’s what we’re banking on.” Julie mulls all of this new information over in her brain, overwhelmed by the speed it’s going.  
“So, it’s either you cross over, be in his band for eternity, or be destroyed by those jolts?” The volume of her voice has gone up, and the tone has turned angry. Luke doesn’t really dare to look into her eyes, scared he might break by seeing her so broken.  
“Yeah…” he answers when he finally makes eye contact.  
“That’s just great…” she states sarcastically before turning and heading inside.  
“Julie…” Luke tries but she’s already closed the door. Upset and at a loss for what to do, Luke heads back into the garage where he finds his three best friends. Two of them squeezed into an armchair with a bass guitar on their lap, and another on the couch, chatting about God-knows-what. June looks up when he walks through the door. She’s never seen her buddy so distraught except for the day he showed them Unsaid Emily.  
“Hey, Luke, you okay?” she asks, turning the boys’ attention to their lead guitarist.  
“I told Julie about Caleb…” he mutters before plopping down on the couch next to Alex.  
“What did she say?” Reggie asks, stopping the circling of June’s shoulder with his thumb.  
“What do you think, Reg?” Luke snaps, then sighs in desperation. “Whatever we do, we’re losing Julie. Even worse, she’s losing us. She’s already lost so much, and we helped her connect to her mother again. And now that’s going to be gone too…” Reggie exchanges glances with June, reminding her what they talked about earlier at the beach.  
“Do you want me to keep an eye out for her?” Luke turns to June as the words leave her mouth, staring at her with the most hopeful eyes. “I think I might have an idea to make myself visible to her.” Without saying another word, she gets up from the couch. As the boys all watch her go up to the loft, Luke slithers down the couch and onto the floor, Alex taking this opportunity to lie down on his back, getting more and more defeated by all the overwhelming information in his afterlife.  
June is rummaging through their stuff in the loft, trying to find what she’s looking for. She’s certain it’s going to be here somewhere. It has to be. Rose wouldn’t just throw that tape away. She’s so busy searching, she doesn’t even hear Julie walk in until her voice bounces off the walls.  
“Snap out of it!” she yells, making Alex fall off the couch with a thump, throwing his drumstick away in the process. Reggie stops plucking his bass now, looking at the lost drumstick on the floor.  
“Jeez, I think you broke Alex,” he says.  
“Do you guys want to cross over, or what?” Luke pushes Alex back up the couch while the latter looks at Julie in defeat. “Get it together!” she yells again, this time, clapping her hand with every word.  
“They’re never going to let us play at the Orpheum,” Luke states, rolling his eyes.  
“We’re nobody,” Alex chimes in.  
“We’re less than nobody. We have no bodies,” Reggie says matter-of-factly as if the boys should be reminded of that. Luke snaps his fingers and points at his buddy. He does have a point.  
“Someone once told me that you don’t ask for permission.” Luke chuckles lightly, remembering he said those words to her when she didn’t get back into the music program. “You book gigs by doing.”  
“That was me,” Reggie says proudly.  
“No, it wasn’t,” Julie shakes her head at him.  
“No, it wasn’t,” Luke repeats, looking up at the bass-hugging boy.  
“Yes, it was.” June can’t help the amused smile on her face as she listens from upstairs in the loft.  
“This isn’t over. We were brought together for a reason: to help each other,” Julie continues her pep-talk. June’s amused smile changes into an endeared one. Just like Rose helped her navigate the afterlife, Julie has helped the boys. And in return, the boys helped Julie.  
“Yeah, but like Luke said, people don’t just play the Orpheum because they want to,” Alex reasons. Reggie points at the blondie, gesturing he’s right.  
“People don’t,” Julie starts nonchalantly, “But ghosts do.” She crosses her arms across her chest, smiling proudly at her ghost friends as they exchange glances. They’d almost forgotten about that part.


	12. Trip to Las Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys and June go find Willie to tell him their plan. June and Willie then take off and when they meet the boys again, it's time to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda sad... I hope you like it. 
> 
> Once again, I don't own any of the characters except Juniper Fray. Scenes seen in the series aren't mine, any others are mine.

# 2020, Hollywood 

“Hey, I thought I’d find you here,” June’s voice makes Willie jump a little. He’s sat at Justin Bieber’s pool again, his feet dangling off the edge. He looks up at her, only to find Alex, Reggie and Luke right behind her. “We need to get a band on the Orpheum’s marquee.” 

“Thought you might have something up your sleeve to help us out…” Luke adds nervously. The four of them had been talking about it all when Julie left the garage, thinking of ways to get the opening band to drop out of the gig. The only way that could happen is if they didn’t make it to the Orpheum in time. 

Willie looks at June again, noticing a certain hint of mischief in her eyes, which he liked the idea of. 

“What are you thinking, Ju?” he asks with a smirk forming on his face as he stands up.

“I think that band might somehow end up in the desert in Las Vegas?” None of the boys behind June knows what she’s thinking. She hadn’t said anything yet, except for having a plan and needing Willie to succeed in that plan. 

Willie’s lips curl up into a mischievous grin, his brain already working through all the ideas for a good scheme. It’s been a while since he haunted anyone, and this has to go perfectly, otherwise the boys won’t be able to perform at the Orpheum and they won’t cross over. 

“Meet us at the Orpheum in about two hours,” Willie tells the boys, and June nods in agreement. Two hours should do it. “We’ll promise to get this done in time.” June quickly reaches up and kisses Reggie on the cheek before the three boys poof out and back to Julie. 

“So,” June starts, turning to Willie. “We intercept Downslide’s tour bus in Las Vegas and accidentally make the chauffeur drive straight into the desert. When the band wakes up, they’ll find themselves between all the cacti and sandy hills.” Willie’s lips turn up into a vicious smirk, ready to stir up some drama. This is just going to be fun.

# 2020, Los Feliz

“Okay, Julie,” Alex starts when they’re back in the garage where she’d been waiting for them. 

“Tell me the plan, please!” she begs. They had told her they’d come up with a plan, but they needed someone else’s help.

“First, you need to know that the ghosts we asked for help are actually pretty special to us,” Luke adds, and it makes Julie even more curious. They’ve never really talked about their pre-death lives, besides Luke’s parents or Trevor Wilson. 

“So, first there’s June, she was my girlfriend back when we were both alive,” Reggie starts as a blush creeps onto his cheeks thinking about her. “She died in ’94 and when she found out we died, she didn’t quit looking for us and even tried to get us back as ghosts. She’s a dancer now at Caleb’s club.” Julie nods her head slowly, getting more and more impatient. 

“And I met Willie after we first performed at your school,” Alex then goes on, “He’s answered a bunch of questions and he’s the one who introduced us to Caleb… He’s also the one who told us about the stamp and the jolts.” Julie’s head is still bobbing along, awaiting the actual explanation. 

“So, they’re going to help us get into the Orpheum?” she asks, urging them to finally continue. 

“Yes, they’ve come up with a plan to get that opening band away from Los Angeles. They told us to be back at the Orpheum in two hours, so we can do the rest,” says Luke, getting giddy with excitement to play the Orpheum tonight. Though, it’s not exactly what they’d hoped their afterlife would look like. 

“Cool! Let’s rehearse for those two hours and then you guys can go,” Julie suggests, which they all agree to. They do need some more practice if they’re going to nail their performance tonight.

# 2020, Las Vegas

June and Willie poof onto the parked tour bus, finding the messiest bus they’d ever witnessed. A weird odor hung in the air as though someone had peed on couches or they’d hidden a corpse somewhere. Empty packages of food have been scattered around tables and the floor. 

“What a disgusting band,” June mutters, covering her nose from the pungent smell. 

“Let’s get this over with quickly,” says Willie and moves to the front of the bus while June stays back, looking around to find something to do. All she really wants to do is clean up the mess these boys have made. She waves her hand in front of her, trying to get the smell away from her nose, but instead, the empty packaging disappears. Her eyes widen at this. Did she just do that? To be sure, she points at some gross stains on the couch, and they vanish too. 

“Oh my God, Will, check this out!” she exclaims excitedly. Willie turns his head from the driver’s seat as June points to some other stains on a table that get cleaned up with one wave of her hand. 

“What else can you do?” he asks, turning back to the road as he starts driving the bus away from the parking lot. June looks around the bus for a moment, trying to find something new. There’s a twenty-something guy curled up on the couch in the very back of the bus, and she wonders if she could change him out of his disgusting clothes. This didn’t work back in the day with Rose, but her powers might’ve developed over the years. She points at the man, then flutters her hand around in circles and up and down until the man is wearing a completely different outfit. 

“Wicked,” she mutters before moving towards Willie at the front of the bus. “These guys are not going to believe their eyes when they wake up.” Willie laughs at this, his eyes squinting shut as he drives the bus off the road and into the sandy desert. 

“Yeah, a completely cleaned up bus, completely different clothes and being parked in the middle of a desert might surprise some people,” he says as he brings the bus to a standstill. There’s nothing to be seen around besides sand, sand, and more sand. Nothing else in sight. “This seems like the perfect spot.” June nods agreeingly and looks around the bus one more time, spotting two forest green bomber jackets with the bands logo on the back. 

“I think we deserve a little something after this,” she says and grabs one of the jackets. There’s a disgusting stain on it, but knowing about her powers now, she magically wipes it off with a swoosh of her hand and does the same to the second jacket before handing it to Willie. 

“All right, let’s get back to Hollywood,” Willie states whilst putting the jacket on. June shrugs the jacket over her shoulders before the two of them poof out of the now clean bus and all the way back to Hollywood.

# 2020, Hollywood

The lights around the Orpheum’s sign flicker as June and Willie arrive at the same time the three ghosts in front of them flicker too. Grunting and in utter pain, the boys jolt back as the shock flashes through their bodies. 

“Hey, you guys okay?” Willie asks worriedly while June hurries towards her boyfriend to check up on him. 

The boys turn around with pained expressions on their faces. Something flashes in Alex’ eyes that June takes note of. It’s the realization that he has to say goodbye to Willie soon. “Yeah,” he says. “Nothing we haven’t felt before.”

June tugs her lips into a tight-lipped smile as she takes her spot beside Willie again. 

“How’d it go?” Alex asks, more to Willie than to June. 

A soft smile plays on the skater’s lips, mirroring the girl’s. “Well, when that band wakes up, they’re going to find themselves--” Willie and June simultaneously turn around, showing their khaki jacket they had nicked from the band’s tour bus. “Two hundred miles outside of Vegas.” 

“With no chance of getting back in time!” June adds while Willie high fives Luke. Her eyes are plastered on Reggie though, who shoots her a proud smile. The same smile he gave her during her competition days back in ‘93. 

“And that means there’s a promoter upstairs right about now freaking out,” Luke points out cheerily with Reggie and June giggling along. Alex lets out an anxious laugh as he wrings his hands. 

“Nah,” Willie replies, “This is Hollywood man, I’m sure he’s being _very professional_.” He snickers, and so does June until her eyes land on the more-than-ever-anxious Alex. Knowing exactly what her friend needs right now, she steps away from Willie and joins Reggie and Luke so the two can have a proper goodbye. 

“Hey, Junebug,” Reggie then starts solemnly. June’s teeth dig into her bottom lip as she gazes up to Reggie. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay here? I mean, I--” June grabs Reggie’s hand, shutting him up. 

“I’m gonna be fine, Reginald. I still have Willie and Natasha and all the other dancers at the club. Caleb might have a hold on me, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting that happen to you. That’s not the place where you belong.” 

Reggie scoffs, shaking his head. “Neither do you.” 

June licks her lips, trying her hardest to bite back the tears that are brimming in her eyes. “I’ll be fine. I’ll find my way out of there.” She brings her hand to his cheek and softly caresses it while he leans into her touch before turning his head to press a kiss to her palm. “Now,” she retreats her hand and glances at both boys. “You are going to rock that show tonight and are gonna continue rocking up there in heaven, okay?” The two boys offer her a half-hearted smile, and when Luke opens his mouth to say something, June interrupts. “And I’ll keep an eye out for Julie here.” 

The boy nods thankfully, and when June looks up, her eyes fall on the hugging boys a few feet away from them. The sight tugs at her heartstrings more than anything and it's something she can’t withhold her tears for. 

“You better go before Caleb finds out where you are,” Luke then tells her and quickly wraps her up in a hug before stepping aside to give the couple some room.   
Reggie sadly looks into June’s eyes as they stand in the middle of the sidewalk with people bustling around them. Thank heavens they can’t see the scene developing here. 

“Hey,” June captures her boyfriend’s attention. “You’re gonna be fine, okay?” 

“Yeah, I know… I just can’t believe I have to say goodbye to you again,” he whispers, and June witnesses a tear rolling down his cheek. She reaches up and wipes the tear away, trying her hardest not to cry herself. “After I was so happy to find you again and then this happens… It just isn’t fair.”

“At least we get to say goodbye this time.” 

He lets out an airy chuckle and kicks at an invisible pebble while his hands disappear into his pockets. 

“We’ll see each other again, I know we will,” June adds with a quavering voice and when Reggie looks up to find tears escaping her eyes, she quickly steps closer to him and attaches their lips again for what might just be their very last kiss. Though bittersweet and even a little salty with their tears mingling between their lips, it’s the perfect last kiss. 

“Goodb--” before Reggie can finish the word, June places her pointer finger on his lips, shushing him. 

“Don’t say goodbye. Goodbye means forever,” she whispers. 

Reggie smiles tenderly before kissing her again. “See ya, Junebug,” he then says instead and backs away from her and steps aside, so she can say goodbye to Alex too.   
“See ya, Reggie-poo.” 

June turns around and finds Alex and Willie pull away from their hug. The blondie turns and wraps his arms around his friend, whispering a “take care of each other,” in her ear before letting her go. 

“See you around, hot dog,” Willie says to Alex and gives the other boys a wave. 

June offers Alex a soft smile before turning her head to her boyfriend and Luke, inhaling sharply as the thought of never seeing them again flashes through her mind. She then follows Willie and poofs out with him. Willie isn’t sure where they apparate to until he finds himself in the abandoned mall they went to the other day. To be more specific the music store in said mall. 

“Are you okay?” he asks June when he notices the worried expression on her face. 

June can feel a weight pressing down on her chest. Something feels off and she doesn’t know what it is or what she can do about it. Though it’s probably just the feeling of grief she feels knowing she’s never going to see the boys again. It does resemble the feeling she had when she found out the boys had died. 

“I’m fine… I just-- Can’t help but feel like something’s off,” she explains, trailing her fingers across the keys of the piano. “What if this doesn’t work out?” 

Willie shrugs while his teeth dig down into his bottom lip. “We’ll just have to see.”


End file.
